Saleh Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group's military wing, had been in Israel's sights for years before he was killed in a drone strike in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before Hamas carried out its deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, sparking the ongoing brutal war in Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to avoid escalation, "particularly in Lebanon", following a strike in Beirut attributed to Israel that killed Hamas's deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, the Elysee Palace said.

Macron, who spoke by telephone with Israeli minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz, said "it was essential to avoid any escalatory attitude, particularly in Lebanon, and that France would continue to pass on these messages to all players directly or indirectly involved in the area", the presidency said.

Hezbollah has warned that Israel's killing Tuesday of the deputy Hamas leader in a Beirut southern suburb "will not go unanswered or unpunished."

Hezbollah called it "a serious assault on Lebanon."

Israel’s military spokesman on Tuesday said the army remains focused on fighting Hamas after an explosion in Beirut's southern suburbs that killed Saleh al-Arouri, a senior leader of the Islamic militant group.

The attack, blamed on Israel, has raised concerns that Lebanon’s Hezbollah could strike back in revenge.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned Israel's killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut's southern suburbs on Tuesday, saying the attack "aims to draw Lebanon" further into the Israel-Hamas war.

"Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the explosion in the southern suburbs of Beirut that killed and injured many," his office said in a statement.

Israel's war against Palestinian militants reached into the suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday, where an Israeli strike killed Hamas' deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, the group and security officials in Lebanon said.

Lebanese state media said the assassination came in an Israeli drone strike that killed a total of six people.

The Israeli artillery shelled Tuesday the outskirts of Kfarshouba, al-Dhayra, Tayr Harfa and al-Naqoura, while Israeli warplanes struck Maroun al-Rass in south Lebanon. The Israeli army said the strike was on Hezbollah infrastructure and that the army was responding to missiles launched from Lebanon towards the Shlomi settlement.

An Israeli drone later targeted a cemetery in the town of Yaroun with two missiles.

As several thousand Israeli troops will be taken out of Gaza in the coming weeks, a senior Israeli official said Israel will be preparing for a war with Lebanon.

The official told Reuters that not all troops who will return from Gaza will go home, as some would be prepared for rotation to the northern border with Lebanon.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has dismissed reports alleging that he had proposed Hezbollah’s “implementation of Resolution 1701” in return for the election of a pro-Hezbollah president.

French army minister Sebastien Lecornu has said that the UNIFIL's mission might become "very dangerous" as he visited a French UNIFIL contingent in Deir Kifa.

Lecornu met with Army chief Joseph Aoun on Monday and discussed with him the U.N. mission and how to protect Lebanese and UNIFIL soldiers amid rising border tensions in south Lebanon.