The number two of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed on Tuesday in an Israeli bombardment in the south of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, two Lebanese security officials told AFP.
According to one of these sources, al-Arouri was killed along with his bodyguards in an attack on the Hamas office in the southern suburb of Beirut, a stronghold of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement.
The Palestinian Islamist group's television, for its part, reported the "assassination" of one of its leaders.
Hamas controls the Gaza Strip after winning the 2006 Palestinian elections, which were followed by fierce clashes with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, which rules the West Bank.
The question of who will rule the Gaza Strip is an issue that has been debated again since the outbreak of the war between Hamas and Israel, which vowed to destroy the Palestinian movement.
For its part, the United States insists that Palestinians must be part of the post-war administration, but the future role of the internationally recognized Palestinian National Authority remains unclear.
In Haniyeh's speech, broadcast by Al Jazeera, the Hamas chief also referred to negotiations on a possible second truce in the fighting.
An earlier temporary ceasefire paved the way for nearly half of the 240 hostages kidnapped in Israel on Oct. 7 to be released by militants in Gaza.
"The enemy's prisoners will only be released under the conditions set by the resistance," Haniyeh said, without elaborating. More than 100 hostages are still being held captive in Gaza.
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