Hamas secretly appointed a new Gaza Strip chief early yesterday, but refused to reveal his identity after Israel assassinated two Hamas leaders in less than a month.
Israel assassinated Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi in a missile strike on his car on Saturday, part of its declared campaign to wipe out the Islamic militant group's leadership ahead of a planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Two of Rantisi's bodyguards were also killed in the attack.
PHOTO: AP
Hamas posted a statement on its Web site pledging "100 unique retaliations" that will shake Israel. It said it had declared a state of emergency in the West Bank and Gaza Strip until revenge was complete.
"Yesterday they said that they killed Rantisi to weaken Hamas. They are dreaming. Every time a martyr falls, Hamas is strengthened," Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, told more than 70,000 mourners gathered at the city's largest mosque for the funeral. "Hamas might have a crisis at hand after losing its leaders, but it will not be defeated."
Palestinians demonstrated Sunday throughout the Gaza Strip and West Bank calling for attacks to retaliate for the assassination. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in a riot against the killing, hospital officials said.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians thronged the streets of Gaza City yesterday in Rantisi's 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.
About 200 armed Hamas militants lined both sides of the road and gave the bodies a military salute as they approached a large blue and green mourning tent set up outside Rantisi's house. Armed men fired into the air and many in the gathered crowd raised their fists in anger.
Green Hamas flags and black mourning flags hung from nearby homes.
"Hamas will move ahead and will continue the resistance march," said local Hamas leader Ahmad Sahar, a friend of Rantisi's.
Rantisi was killed less than a month after Israel assassinated Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin. The group's Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal reportedly instructed the group to keep the name of its new Gaza leader secret.
Israel has targeted Hamas and its leaders in advance of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposed withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip and a few West Bank settlements.
Sharon vowed to continue hunting down Hamas leaders.
"This policy of making an effort on the one hand to advance a political process and on the other hand to hit the terror organizations and their leaders will continue," Sharon said at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.
Sharon returned from Washington Friday with strong US backing for his plan, as well as unprecedented US support for Israel to hold on to parts of the West Bank under a final peace deal.
Sharon has called for a May 2 referendum on his plan in his hardline Likud Party, and polls show the proposal garnering a slim majority of the party's 200,000 voters.
Two key Israeli Cabinet ministers, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Limor Livnat, decided yesterday to back the plan, giving Sharon a Cabinet majority and the support of influential Likud members.
Vice Premier Ehud Olmert denied there was a connection between the referendum and Rantisi's assassination. But the killing underscored Israel's commitment to continue fighting terrorism and hunting down militant leaders even after a pullout, he said.
Israeli Cabinet minister Gideon Ezra said Mashaal -- the overall Hamas leader who Israel tried unsuccessfully to kill in the past -- was also marked for death.
"The fate of Khaled Mashaal is the fate of Rantisi. The minute we have the operational opportunity we will do this," Ezra said.
The Bush administration declined to criticize Rantisi's killing, saying instead that Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorist attacks and urging Palestinians to use restraint in responding.
"The United States strongly urges Israel to consider carefully the consequences of its actions," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said
Arab officials and Muslim leaders called the assassination "state terrorism" that proved Israel was intent on sabotaging peace hopes and suggested American support for such killings, an accusation Israel and the US denied. Earlier in the week, a taped message attributed to Osama bin Laden vowed revenge against America for the Israeli killing of Yassin.
Israeli security forces went on high alert after Rantisi was killed, fearing reprisal bombings. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the killing as a "brutal assassination."
Black smoke from burning tires billowed over Gaza and fresh graffiti promising fierce revenge decorated the walls of the crowded coastal strip. Streets remained empty and stores shuttered as Gazans marked the first of a three-day mourning period for Rantisi. Children stayed home from school.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RSS