Israel will strike at more Hamas leaders, the defense minister said yesterday, a day after the founder of the Islamic militant group, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was assassinated in an Israeli missile attack.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and his security chiefs decided in a five-hour meeting late on Monday to try to kill the entire Hamas leadership, without waiting for another terror attack, security sources said.
Israel's police minister, Tzahi Hanegbi, warned that "anyone who is involved in terrorism in Gaza or the West Bank ... knows after yesterday's assassination that no one is immune."
Yassin's killing threatens to escalate Israel-Palestinian fighting. Fearing revenge, Israel beefed up security throughout the country and at missions abroad.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians thronged the streets of Gaza City for Yassin's funeral procession Monday, and Hamas threatened punishing revenge attacks against Israel. It also hinted that the US could become a target for backing Israel.
Hamas, founded by Yassin in 1987, wants to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state. Mofaz said on Monday that Hamas killed 377 Israelis and wounded more than 2,000 in hundreds of attacks.
Mofaz said yesterday that other Hamas leaders would be targeted.
"If we will continue, in a determined way, with our strikes against Hamas and other terror groups, with the means I outlined, including action against those leaders, we will bring more security to Israeli citizens," he said.
Mofaz and Israeli security chiefs decided Monday to step up targeted attacks, the security sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They said officials decided to go after the entire Hamas leadership without waiting for another attack by the militant group.
A decision on targeting top Hamas officials was first made last week by Israel's Cabinet, in response to a double suicide bombing at an Israeli seaport.
Yesterday Israel's army chief suggested that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the chief of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, would eventually be assassinated.
"I think that their responses yesterday show that they understand that it is nearing them," Yaalon said when asked if the two men were in Israel's crosshairs.
Arafat's aides say the Palestinian leader is concerned about being targeted. "We take this very seriously," Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said of the veiled Israeli threats.
It was not clear what response by Nasrallah the army chief was referring to.
In Gaza City, thousands of mourners paid condolences in a reception area set up in a large soccer stadium. Loudspeakers broadcast calls for jihad. A number of Hamas leaders greeted mourners. Green Hamas flags fluttered throughout the stadium, and posters of Yassin were plastered on the stadium walls.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia paid his condolences to Hamas at the stadium yesterday.
Yassin's wife, Halima, greeted mourners at their modest Gaza City home. "We're counting on God and God will give us our revenge ... on the Jews I hope, and on the collaborators, and on the spies," she said, a picture of her husband pinned to her long embroidered dress. The couple had 11 children.
The Palestinian Authority declared three days of mourning and stores throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip were closed. Hamas is the biggest rival to the authority, but Palestinian leaders treat the movement with care because of its popularity.
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