GAZA CITY ?- Abdulaziz Rantisi, a pediatrician and senior Hamas official known for his hard-line views, was appointed Tuesday to the militant group's top post, putting him squarely in the cross hairs of Israel.
The 56-year-old Rantisi replaced Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated a day earlier by Israel. The Jewish state promised Tuesday to target Hamas officials and other Palestinian leaders, and hinted that the threat could extend to Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites).
"I have no doubt that if we persist in our operations against Hamas and other terror organizations in all channels, including the operations against the leaders, we'll bring security for the citizens of Israel," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Israel Radio.
Internal Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel's hit list "includes everyone down to the very last among them, including those who appear on television and lash out telling us their intention to cut the prime minister's head off."
Hanegbi's remarks were an obvious reference to Rantisi, who in a fiery speech Monday warned that Hamas planned to launch reprisal attacks against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) and his Cabinet for plotting Yassin's assassination.
In an interview before his promotion was made public, Rantisi downplayed Israel's latest threat to target senior Hamas figures.
"I am not afraid. I am looking to be martyred. Why? Because I believe the last day for me is not in the hands of Sharon but in the hands of Allah," he said.
Palestinian sources said Hamas' strategy was not likely to change under Rantisi because the organization's secretive leadership council ?- which makes key decisions ?- remains in place. Rantisi's ideology mirrors Yassin's: that Jews must withdraw from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites), the West Bank and all of what is modern-day Israel, to make way for a Palestinian homeland.
"We will fight them everywhere. We will hit them everywhere. We will chase them everywhere. We will teach them lessons in confrontation," Rantisi told supporters in his first public remarks after his appointment. "My dear people, you who were displaced by the Jews from your villages and cities, you will return to your villages and cities through fighting, because we don't have any other strategic option."
Palestinian sources made it clear that Rantisi would serve as political leader and not assume Yassin's role as spiritual leader. Yassin, unlike Rantisi, was a Muslim cleric.
Rantisi's promotion from deputy political leader followed succession rules outlined in Hamas' constitution. Under the complex leadership structure, separate leaders oversee the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Palestinian constituencies abroad. The overall political chief is Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Syria. But the fact that the Gaza Strip is Hamas' stronghold signals that Rantisi has emerged as the group's top official.
Monday's missile attack on the 67-year-old Yassin ?- slain as he left a mosque in his wheelchair after dawn prayers ?- drew widespread international condemnation.
Israeli officials said Yassin was responsible for Hamas suicide bombings that have killed scores of Jews during the 3?-year Palestinian uprising. They say a series of "targeted killings" of key Hamas figures last year resulted in a drop in suicide attacks because militants were driven into hiding. Yassin survived one of those strikes when a bomb was dropped on a building where he was meeting with other Hamas leaders.
The army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, suggested Tuesday that Israel's strikes could extend to Arafat and Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group, which recently carried out a prisoner swap with Israel.
"I believe that their reactions [Monday] indicate that they understand that this is nearing them," he said.
Arafat, who has been confined by Israel to his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah for two years, was said to have expressed concern that he might be targeted next.
Thousands of mourners in Gaza City attended an outdoor memorial service at dusty Yarmouk Stadium on the second of three days of mourning for Yassin. Men waited in long lines to pay their final respects to senior Hamas leaders and Yassin's family.
"With this assassination, you crossed every red line and started a new period of bloodshed that will never end," said a banner near the stadium entrance. "Israel will live with this bloodshed day and night."
On a blanket on the ground, a child sold postcards for 11 cents apiece of Palestinian insurgents killed in past attacks against Israel. Nearby, another vendor sold $1.20 CDs of recorded messages that suicide bombers made before their attacks. "Business is pretty good," said Abdullah Horani as he pointed to two of the hottest sellers. "We'll have a new one of Sheik Yassin in a couple of days."
Israel remained on a high state of alert Tuesday, sealing off the West Bank and Gaza Strip to prevent suicide bombers from launching reprisal attacks. Israeli officials warned that could last for weeks.
In Jerusalem, where most of the suicide bombings have occurred, soldiers and police were stationed on nearly every major street corner. Many residents stayed away from public areas.
A poll published by Yediot Aharonot newspaper, the country's biggest-selling daily, revealed that although most Israelis supported Yassin's assassination, 81% of respondents expected a rise in attacks.
"I know they will retaliate. But if they didn't take down Yassin, they would try to attack us anyway," said Eli Cornfeld, 17, tending a nearly empty pizza shop on normally busy Jaffa Street.
The political boost that the Yassin strike gave Sharon in Israel contrasted with the reaction abroad, where the attack drew widespread condemnation Monday and sparked huge street protests in neighboring Arab countries.
The United States, after initially avoiding criticism of Israel, altered its tone and said it was "deeply troubled" by the assassination.
In New York, the United Nations (news - web sites) Security Council on Tuesday debated Israel's killing of Yassin but failed to agree on a statement condemning the assassination.
The council will continue discussions today. If there is no agreement, Arab nations may introduce a resolution condemning the killing, which would probably be vetoed by the United States.
Students demonstrated in Ramallah, the home of the Palestinian Authority, but the protests were smaller and quieter than those Monday.
In the Israeli city of Nazareth, thousands of Israeli Arabs protested the killing, and in Jerusalem, student protesters at Hebrew University, where Sharon was visiting, carried placards saying, "The assassination policy is killing us."
There were a few reports of violent flare-ups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In the southern Gaza Strip early today, Israel sent about 50 tanks, helicopters and bulldozers into the Khan Yunis refugee camp, residents said. They said soldiers and Palestinians traded gunfire and at least five buildings were razed, but no one was killed.
Two Palestinians were killed near the settlement of Moraj, which is close to Rafah, also in southern Gaza. The Israeli army said that soldiers acted to protect the settlement when they saw someone approach and that they found an explosive device on one of the bodies. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attempted attack.
Hamas, which has won a broad, grass-roots following in the Gaza Strip through its schools and health clinics, calls for Israel's elimination and the establishment of Islamic rule.
Another prominent Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, who also survived an Israeli assassination attempt last year, said the group would take part in government and elections if Israel withdrew from the coastal strip.
Hamas has held municipal posts in the past, but holding higher office would represent a shift for the group, which has eschewed positions in the governing Palestinian Authority because it rejects the authority's legitimacy.
"We're now in the age of liberation," Rantisi said. "We'll talk about elections at a different time."
The future role of Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been a source of speculation since Sharon proposed evacuating Jewish settlers and most of Israel's army contingent as part of a plan to cut Israel's ties to the Palestinians. Under the disengagement plan, Israel would unilaterally withdraw from most or all of the Gaza Strip settlements as well as an undetermined number in the West Bank.
Sharon has said he would act on his own after determining that there was no chance for fruitful negotiations with the Palestinians under the U.S.-backed "road map" initiative. The peace plan has been stalled for months, and most observers say the Yassin assassination dooms any hopes of reviving it any time soon.
President Bush (news - web sites) said Tuesday that he would send senior diplomats to the region next week in an attempt to rescue the peace process. A trio of high-level emissaries has visited twice in recent weeks to discuss Sharon's withdrawal proposal.
Rantisi is known for opposing any accommodation with Israel and has resisted calls for a cease-fire.
Born on Oct. 23, 1947, in Yebna, present-day Israel, Rantisi moved to Gaza as a refugee in 1949. He studied medicine in Egypt, where he became a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He is a founding member of Hamas and a lecturer in the nursing department of Gaza's Islamic University.
Rantisi has been arrested or detained by Israel several times and spent nearly a decade behind bars. He won notice as a spokesman for Palestinian militants who were deported to southern Lebanon in 1992. Upon his return, he was jailed until 1997.
Last June, Rantisi was targeted by the Israelis. The attack on his jeep killed his two bodyguards and four bystanders, including a young girl, but he managed to escape with minor injuries. His son was also seriously injured in the attack.
During Tuesday's interview, Rantisi said Hamas' military wing would play the leading role in determining strategy.
"It's up to the military wing to do everything," he said. "It's not revenge. It's war. I believe we will see a series of reactions."
