Hamas slams US bounty on group’s second-in-command

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hamas has slammed Washington’s recent decision to offer a $5-million reward for information leading to the capture of the group’s deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri.

The move, Hamas said in a Wednesday statement, "serves the interests of Israel and its racist and aggressive policies against the Palestinian people”.

It also reflects Washington’s bias “in favor of the [Israeli] enemy”, Hamas said.

The group went on to assert that al-Arouri would -- despite the reward -- remain at his post as Hamas’s second-in-command.

Along with the move against al-Arouri, the Gaza-based movement group also condemned what it described as “U.S. machinations against all resistance groups in the region”.

In addition to the Hamas leader, the U.S. has also offered cash rewards for information leading to the capture of Khalil Yousef Harb and Hisham Ali Tabtbaie, both of whom are commanders of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Hamas called on both the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), along with the international community, to reject what it called an “unjust decision… against the Palestinian people and Palestinian cause”.

Late Tuesday, the U.S. State Department officially offered cash rewards for any information leading to the capture of al-Arouri, Harb or Tabtbaie.

In 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department added al-Arouri’s name to its list of “terrorists”.