1. Saleh Muhammad Sulayman al-Arouri, transliterated as Salah al-Arouri or Salih al-Aruri, was a Palestinian politician and senior leader of Hamas who served as deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from October 2017 until his assassination in January 2024.
Saleh al-Arouri was a founding commander of its military wing, the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades and served as the Hamas's military commander of the West Bank, although he lived in Lebanon at the time of his assassination.
Saleh al-Arouri enrolled at Hebron University to study Islamic Sharia in 1985, during which he was elected head of the Islamic faction at the university, and was recruited to Hamas during the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation in 1987.
Saleh al-Arouri was then exiled by Israel from the Palestinian territories to Syria, later moving to Turkey and finally settling in Lebanon in 2015.
Saleh al-Arouri was described as "a capable, charismatic, suspicious, and shrewd operator, with excellent connections".
Saleh al-Arouri served as a recruiter, and was actively involved in raising and transferring funds on behalf of Hamas.
Saleh al-Arouri was assassinated in 2024 during the Gaza war by an Israeli strike.
Saleh al-Arouri was elected head of the Islamic faction at the university, where he established ties to Kutla Islamiya, Hamas' youth wing on campus.
In 2007, Saleh al-Arouri was arrested again by the Israeli authorities and released in March 2010, probably for his decisive role in the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was captured by Hamas in 2006.
Up until 2015, Saleh al-Arouri lived in Turkey; in December 2015, it was reported that he had left Turkey for Lebanon.
From Istanbul, Saleh al-Arouri allegedly operated independently from the rest of the organization, thereby fostering existing leadership issues in Hamas, an organization multi-headed by design.
The Israeli defense establishment thinks Saleh al-Arouri was boasting and was unconnected to the kidnapping.
Saleh al-Arouri's focus was on building Hamas military capacity in the West Bank, by smuggling in weapons and establishing sleeper cells.
In September 2015, Saleh al-Arouri was placed on the US list of terrorists.
In 2011, Saleh al-Arouri facilitated fund transfers to the families of convicted terrorists and deceased Hamas officers in coordination with Saudi Arabia-based Hamas financial officer Mahir Salah.
US authorities posited that in 2014, Saleh al-Arouri was leading a Hamas initiative that would have destabilized the Palestinian Authority and would have prepared a Hamas' takeover.
Saleh al-Arouri had a younger sister named Dalal, who following his death was arrested by Israeli authorities for allegedly helping to fund his terroristic activities.
At the time of his death in 2024, Saleh al-Arouri was living in Lebanon.
On 2 January 2024, Saleh al-Arouri, 57, was assassinated in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut by an Israeli strike.