Israel threatens more raids

Militants called off their cease-fire and promised more suicide bombings.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israel plans to kill more militant chiefs in raids mirroring a lethal missile strike on a top Hamas leader, Israeli officials warned today, as 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 cease-fire and promised more suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli targets, raising chances that a new round of Mideast violence will sink a U.S.-backed peace plan that aims to stop three years of violence and to create a Palestinian state.
Hamas quickly dispatched squads of young activists in Gaza to launch homemade rockets into Israel. By this morning, six of the crude projectiles had been fired, damaging two houses but causing no injuries. More than a dozen mortars were also launched at Jewish settlements within Gaza, damaging another house.
Secret leadership
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," he said. "They are mistaken. 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 Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz: "Sharon and Mofaz, listen very well, our retaliation will send you to hell."
Deck of cards
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 United States as a civil engineer.
Israel's Maariv newspaper published photos today of 34 top Palestinian militants on a deck of cards imitating the U.S. military deck of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. The ace of hearts is Yassin. The joker is Yasser Arafat.
Khaled Batch, an Islamic Jihad leader picked as the nine of clubs, quipped: "We fear only God, not their cards."
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.
The "road map" peace plan launched 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 warfare. 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 who was appointed in April under pressure from U.S. and Israeli leaders searching for an alternative to Arafat.
"If this situation continues, Abu Mazen will not last long," Abu Zayyad said. "Those interested in Abu Mazen's success must pressure Israel to stop undermining his government."