Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, April 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool

i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened a top Hamas official at the weekly political-security cabinet meeting on Sunday, following a rising wave of terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank.

“It’s not a coincidence that he’s in hiding. Whoever backs terrorism will pay the full price,” Netanyahu said, referencing Salih Al-Aruri, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau and head of the terror organization’s military wing in the West bank.

“Hamas and other branches of Iran understand very well that we will fight with all means against their attempts to create terrorism against us – in Judea and Samaria, in Gaza and anywhere else. Whoever tries to harm us, whoever finances, organizes, sends terror against Israel, will pay the full price,” the Israeli prime minister stated.

“We are facing a wave of terrorism from within and without,” Netanyahu added.

“These are not easy days, challenging days. We must unite our forces against terrorism, against crime in Arab society and against internal and external threats organized to a large extent by Iran through its metastases. We will stand together and we will defeat them,” he concluded.

Various Palestinian terror organizations have warned of serious escalations, after authorization was granted to Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to “hit” terrorists and their supporters, a decision that some have interpreted as a return to targeted assassinations.

In the crosshairs could be Al-Aruri, who is based in Lebanon but pulling the strings for the terror group’s deadly activities in the West Bank. The senior official told Hamas’s Al-Aqsa channel and Hezbollah’s Al-Mayadeen that there would be a harsh response if Israel tried to assassinate any of the organizations’ leaders, even leading to a regional war.