Career
He is regarded as, "the military commander of the West Bank." And as being, "a capable, charismatic, suspicious, and shrewd operator, with excellent connections."
Al-Arouri founded the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The government of the United States accuses al-Arouri of having been, "a high-ranking Hamas military leader dating back to his role as a Hamas student cell leader at Hebron University in the early 1990s."
When he was released from prison in Israel in 2007, he told interviewers that he abjured terrorist attacks, asserting that Hamas is “harmed if we target civilians.” He was deported by Israel shortly after his release form prison, and now lives in Turkey. According to Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank, al-Arouri "has been a key figure behind Hamas’ efforts to rejuvenate the group’s terrorist networks in the West Bank.” Levitt asserts that he has dispatched, "dozens of operatives" to Israel with funds to carry out the terror kidnapping of Israelis with the goal of obtaining kidnappees to exchange for Palestinian security prisoners.
Al-Arouri said in conference in Turkey on 20 August 2014 that Hamas was responsible for the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers. However, his claim was doubted by experts and Hamas has not admitted responsibility, though the group has expressed support for the attack. The Israeli defense establishment thinks al-Arouri was boasting and was unconnected to the kidnapping.
Al-Arouri is regarded as the author of a recent series of incidents of terrorism against Israelis, including the 2015 Shvut Rachel shooting and the shooting of Danny Gonen. His focus is on building Hamas military capacity in the West Bank, by smuggling in weapons and establishing sleeper cells.