Israel plans more strikes on militant leaders
Tens of thousands of Palestinians at his funeral promised revenge.
Palestinian leaders said the killing of Ismail Abu Shanab, a top aide to Hamas chief Ahmed Yassin, ruined an imminent campaign against militants by Palestinian security forces that would have included arrests and weapons roundups.
The militants called off their two-month-old ceasefire and promised more suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli targets, raising chances that a new round of Mideast violence will sink a US-backed peace plan.
Hamas quickly dispatched squads of young activists in Gaza to launch homemade rockets into Israel. Six of the crude projectiles were fired, damaging two houses but causing no injuries. More than a dozen mortars were also launched at Jewish settlements within Gaza, damaging another house.
Several high-ranking Israeli military officials said on condition of anonymity that there were plans to kill other top Hamas leaders if new Palestinian suicide attacks occur and Palestinian police forces make no efforts to arrest extremists.
Speaking at the funeral of Abu Shanab, another Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who survived an Israeli rocket attack on his car in June, said that if the Israelis kill him and other top militants, a secret leadership is ready to take over.
"They think that targeting leaders will stop Jihad (holy war). They are mistaken," he said. "All of us in Hamas from top to bottom are looking to become like Abu Shanab."
In the funeral procession in Gaza City, men carried the bodies of Abu Shanab and his two bodyguards. The streets echoed with shouts for revenge. Some in the crowd chanted together a warning for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz: "Sharon and Mofaz listen very well, our retaliation will send you to hell."
A Palestinian suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus on Tuesday killed 20 people, including six children, prompting Israel's strike on Abu Shanab, 53, trained in the US as a civil engineer.
An Israeli security source said all Hamas leaders were now considered fair targets and new strikes would be launched after a 24-hour lull to give Palestinians a chance to act on their own against militants. "We were waiting to see even just one Hamas arrest," he said.
The roadmap peace plan launched on June 4 requires the Palestinians to dismantle Islamic and other militant groups. After Tuesday's suicide attack in Jerusalem, aides to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said for the first time that he would go after militants, something he had earlier rejected for fear of setting off civil war.
But those plans were scrapped after Israel's helicopter attack, which killed Abu Shanab and two bodyguards, the aides said.
Palestinian legislator Ziad Abu Zayyad said the renewed violence threatens to topple the already weak prime minister also known as Abu Mazen who was appointed in April under pressure from US and Israeli leaders searching for an alternative to Arafat.
In the West Bank, Israeli tanks and other armoured vehicles rolled into Jenin, Tulkarem and Nablus for a second night of raids searching for wanted Palestinians. Troops used explosives to demolish three houses that belonged to the families of militants who carried out attacks.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
