Hezbollah official Fuad Shukr was tricked by a phone call into walking from his office to his apartment before Israeli ammunition hit his house, killing him, his wife, two children and two other women, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) revealed.

Shukr was killed on July 30 in the southern Beirut district of Dahiyeh. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said he had been in contact with him just hours before his killing.

According to the report, the call that took Shukr to the seventh floor likely came from someone who had penetrated Hezbollah’s internal communications network.

Both his office and his apartment were in the same building, but on different floors, so he could move between them without attracting much attention.

Shukr was considered one of Hezbollah’s most important figures and is said to have commanded the group’s cross-border exchanges of fire with Israel since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7.

A Hezbollah official said the group and Iran were still investigating the intelligence glitch, but they believed Israel had preempted Hezbollah’s counter-surveillance with better technology and hacking.

Shukr’s assassination was a major blow to the group, as he was one of its highest-ranking activists and founders. It occurred around the same time as the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Shukr also played a leading role in 1982 when he helped organize Shiite fighters in Beirut to oppose the Israeli invasion of Lebanon during the civil war there.

Israel said it killed Shukr, 61, in retaliation for a July 27 rocket attack that killed 12 children aged between 10 and 16 in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.

However, Hezbollah said it was not responsible for the attack and pointed the finger at Israel.

His killing has raised concerns about a further escalation of the conflict in the region; both Hezbollah and Iran have threatened retaliation against Israel.