M A I N   N E W S

Israel eliminates senior Hamas leader

Gaza, April 18
Israel assassinated top Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in a missile strike last night, dealing another major blow to the militant group before a planned US-backed withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians calling for revenge and throwing candy and flowers thronged the streets of Gaza City today in the funeral procession for Rantissi.

Hamas appointed a secret successor to its leader hours after the assassination, a statement of the organisation said. The movement would not reveal the name of the successor for security reasons.

The assassination was especially devastating for Hamas, which has sworn to destroy the Jewish state, as it occurred less than a month after Israel killed the group’s spiritual leader, Ahmed Yassin, in a similar raid.

Two of Rantissi’s bodyguards were also killed in the attack in which two missiles were fired at a car.

Medics said Rantissi, 56, Hamas’s leader in the militant group’s Gaza Strip stronghold, had been rushed to hospital in critical condition after the attack. His skull was crushed and he was covered in wounds.

In the funeral procession, Hamas supporters chanting “God is great” and “revenge, revenge,” threw flowers at the three men’s stretchers as they carried them from the hospital through the streets of Gaza.

Rantissi was covered in a green Hamas flag with his face exposed. His bodyguards, who were badly mangled in the explosion, were completely covered by green flags.

About 200 armed Hamas militants lined both sides of the road and gave the bodies a military salute.

“Israel will regret this. Revenge is coming,” said senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya. “This blood will not be wasted. It is our fate in Hamas and it is our fate as Palestinians to die as martyrs,” Haniya told reporters at the hospital.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said: “Israel...today struck a mastermind of terrorism, with blood on his hands.

“As long as the Palestinian Authority does not lift a finger and fight terrorism, Israel will continue to have to do so itself.” Rantissi, a co-founder of Hamas, had become one of its two main leaders since Israel’s killing of Yassin on March 22.

The killing of Rantissi occurred against the backdrop of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon winning US backing for a unilateral Gaza pullout plan.

Palestinian anger has mounted over US President George W. Bush’s related decisions this week to allow the Jewish state to keep some parts of the West Bank and reject any right of return for Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said Rantissi’s assassination was a direct result of encouragement from the US for Israel.

But a US State Department official denied Washington had given the green light and said the US had not changed its policy of opposing Israeli assassinations.

Rantissi had refused to go into hiding like many of his comrades on Israel’s wanted list.

He had long depicted himself as a Hamas politician with no links to the military wing. But Israel refused to accept the distinction. —Reuters, AP