The Mossad leader vowed to “hunt down all Hamas members” involved in the October 7 attack.

The head of the Israeli secret service (Mossad), David Barney, promised this Wednesday that the agency “will pursue all Hamas members involved in the October 7 attack” on Israel, no matter where they are.

The pledge came a day after Hamas’ number two was killed in a suspected Israeli attack in Beirut.

Saleh Arouri is the highest-ranking Hamas member killed since the war in the Gaza Strip began nearly three months ago.

Israel still refuses to comment on reports that it is responsible for the killing, but Barney’s comments appear to be the strongest evidence yet that the Mossad was behind the bombing.

Barnea drew comparisons with the aftermath of the Munich Massacre of 1972, when Mossad agents located and killed a number of Palestinian militants involved in the kidnapping and death of Israeli athletes at that year’s Olympic Games.

Israel is on high alert to prevent an escalation of the conflict with the powerful Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah after an attack in the Lebanese capital killed the “number two” of the Palestinian Islamist movement.

The death’s implications for the war are still unclear, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported, noting that Israel has killed several senior Hamas leaders over the years who were quickly replaced.

And an attack on a Hezbollah stronghold south of Beirut, AP continues, could lead to the escalation of low-intensity fighting along the border with Lebanon into a full-scale war.

In that sense, the news agency says, much depends on how Hassan Nasrallah, who has led Hezbollah since an Israeli attack killed his predecessor in 1992, reacts.

Nasrallah has already vowed to retaliate against any Israeli attack on allied militant leaders in Lebanon and is expected to make a speech later this Wednesday in the late afternoon.

The AP said Arouri’s death provided a morale boost for Israelis still reeling from the Oct. 7 attack as Hamas continues to resist stubbornly in the Gaza Strip and holds dozens of hostages.

Barnea said Mossad was “seeking to settle scores with the killers who invaded Israel” and vowed to pursue anyone involved “directly or indirectly,” including “planners and envoys.”

“It will take time, just like after the Munich massacre, but we will help them wherever they are,” Barnes said at the funeral of former Mossad chief Zvi Zamir, who died Tuesday at age 98. .

Zamir led the intelligence services during the 1972 Munich attack, in which Palestinian militants killed 11 members of the Israeli delegation.

Israel responded by killing members of the Black September militant group that carried out the attack.