Palestinian mourners broke into sobs as they huddled around defiant family members of slain Hamas deputy Saleh al-Aruri in his village in the occupied West Bank, a day after his death in Lebanon, AFP reports.

Holding a photograph of her son framed in gold, Aisha al-Aruri, 81, said she struck a note of defiance when weeping village women informed her of his death.

“I told them: ‘Why are you crying? Do not cry. Bring a box of sweets and distribute them to the people,’” she told AFP, placing her son’s picture in her lap.

“He asked for martyrdom,” she said. “And he got it.”

Accused by Israel of masterminding numerous attacks against the country, Aruri was elected in 2017 as deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, officially becoming the movement’s number two. Israel has not claimed responsibility for his killing.

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