Terror group Hamas secretly appointed a new Gaza Strip chief today, but refused to reveal his identity after Israel assassinated two Hamas leaders in less than a month.

Thousands of Palestinians thronged the streets of Gaza City today in the funeral procession for slain Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Israeli officials said today they were targeting overall Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal as part of their campaign against the Islamic militant group.

An Israeli missile strike killed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi tonight in a strike on his car. Rantisi's son Mohammed and a bodyguard were also killed in the attack, hospital officials said.

US President George W Bush is the enemy of God and Islam, the new Hamas chief in Gaza said today, declaring that God’s war against the United States and Israel was ongoing.

Hamas leaders say they are not targeting the United States in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of their founder, but will hit back at Israel and target Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for death.

ABDEL AZIZ RANTISI, a hardliner who opposes even a temporary truce with Israel, was chosen as the new Hamas leader in Gaza last night.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas hard-liner, has been named acting leader of the group in Gaza, a spokesman said tonight.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a hardliner who opposes even a temporary truce with Israel, is emerging as a Hamas strongman in the Palestinian areas after the assassination of the group’s founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Israel was bracing itself today for suicide and other revenge attacks by Palestinian militants after the bloodiest day of fighting in the Gaza Strip in 16 months.

The Palestinian Authority is trying to convince militants to extend their ceasefire indefinitely, an official has said.

A KIDNAPPED taxi driver freed in an Israeli commando raid was greeted with a street party yesterday and the military said his captors were not backed by major Palestinian militant groups.

US and Egyptian mediators intensified efforts to persuade militant Palestinians to agree to suspend attacks against Israelis in a bid to salvage a US-backed peace plan threatening to collapse under the weight of renewed violence.

Israel and the Palestinians are resuming top-level security talks despite a bloody week of bombings and missile strikes that left 60 people dead on both sides, officials said today.

THE US-backed road map to peace in the Middle East was in crisis last night after a suicide bomber killed at least 16 on a Jerusalem bus and seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City.

The US-backed road map to peace in the Middle East was in crisis tonight after a suicide bomber killed at least 17 on a Jerusalem bus and seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City.

Israel targeted a Hamas leader in a failed assassination bid that intensified violence and infuriated Israel’s partners in a US-backed peace plan, clearly in trouble just a week after being launched.

Israel tried to kill a senior Hamas leader in Gaza City today, hitting his car with several missiles in an attack that wounded him, killed two bystanders and threw the future of a US-backed peace plan into doubt.

Israel targeted a senior Hamas leader in a missile strike in Gaza City today, injuring him in the right leg and killing two bystanders, doctors said. Two dozen people were hurt.

A top leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was wounded in an Israeli air strike on a car in the Gaza Strip today, doctors said.

A SENIOR Hamas official yesterday said the militant group is breaking off talks with the Palestinian prime minister on halting attacks on Israelis, a surprise reversal that throws into doubt a key component of a US-backed Mideast peace plan.

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas today rejected disarmament talks with Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, throwing the future of a US-backed peace plan into doubt.

With US forces poised for battle in Iraq, a leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas today said his group would not target Americans.

THE militant Hamas group, which has carried out scores of suicide bombings in Israel, yesterday urged Iraq to copy its tactics and send thousands of attackers with explosives strapped to their bodies into a battle against the West.

The militant Hamas group, which has carried out scores of suicide bombings in Israel, today urged Iraq to copy its tactics and send thousands of attackers with explosives strapped to their bodies into a battle against the West.

The fate of Hamas master bombmaker Mohammed Deif remained unclear today, hours after an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a car in Gaza, killing at least two people and wounding dozens.

Palestinian and Israeli security commanders have resumed their meetings, signalling a softening of an Israeli policy breaking off contact with the Palestinian Authority after a string of suicide attacks.

Four people were killed today and 30 others were wounded when a suicide bomber donated explosives as passengers disembarked from a train in the northern Israeli coastal town of Nahariya.