Israel threatens militant leaders

JERUSALEM -- Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant and wounded two others in a shootout Friday at a West Bank hospital as Israel vowed to hunt down and kill militant leaders unless Palestinian authorities rein in the armed groups.

In the Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of Hamas supporters buried a militant leader killed in an Israeli missile strike Thursday and vowed revenge. The group's defiant leaders said they did not fear death and a new generation was ready to take their places.

Washington reacted coolly to the threatened Israeli campaign, stating that its priority was bringing Israeli and Palestinian officials "back together."

The decision to kill leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad was made in a meeting of Israel's security Cabinet earlier this week, in response to a Hamas suicide bombing that killed 20 people, security officials said. "As far as we are concerned, anyone who is in the Hamas leadership is a fair target," one official said on condition of anonymity.

At the Cabinet meeting, participants drew a parallel to the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes seized by Palestinian militants at the 1972 Munich Olympics, a security source said. At the time, Prime Minister Golda Meir ordered Israeli agents to track down and kill suspects in the kidnapping, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appears to have approved a similarly tough line concerning the Palestinian militants.

In the past three years of fighting, Israel has killed dozens of Palestinian terror suspects in targeted operations, focusing on members of the underground military wings.

Palestinian militants routinely avenge the assassinations with suicide bombings.

Now, Israeli leaders say they have waited too long for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to move against the militants, a key stipulation of the "road map" peace plan adopted in June.

The cycle of attacks and counterattacks threatens to overwhelm the stricken U.S.-backed peace plan. Still, as it decided the new policy, the Cabinet insisted Israel has not abandoned the road map.

On Friday, Israeli soldiers spotted three wanted Palestinians hiding on the roof of a hospital in Nablus and opened fire. Khaled Namrouti, 26, a follower of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an armed group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, was killed, militiamen said. The other two fighters were wounded.

The Israeli military said Namrouti was involved in an Aug. 12 suicide bombing that killed an Israeli man in a supermarket in central Israel, a charge confirmed by Al Aqsa members.

After the shooting, the two wounded men underwent surgery in the hospital as more than a dozen Israeli military vehicles, including two armored personnel carriers, ringed the buildings.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks were reported massing near Gaza, where the bodies of Abu Shanab and his two bodyguards were buried after being carried through streets echoing with shouts for vengeance.

Earlier Friday, Hamas activists launched homemade rockets and mortars into Israel and Jewish settlements in Gaza. Three houses were damaged but no injuries were reported. Israeli soldiers set up roadblocks along Gaza's main north-south highway, leaving hundreds of motorists stranded.

Speaking at Abu Shanab's funeral in Gaza City, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who survived an Israeli rocket attack on his car in June, said 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 (holy war). They are mistaken," he said. "All of us in Hamas, from top to bottom, are looking to become like Abu Shanab."

Tens of thousands turned out for the funeral, with some in the crowd chanting a warning for Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz: "Sharon and Mofaz listen very well, our retaliation will send you to hell."

Israeli officials said a sustained military onslaught in the Palestinian areas could still be avoided if Abbas, who has yet to respond to the latest escalation, moves decisively to disarm and jail militants.

"Israel hasn't closed the door on the road map," spokesman Dore Gold said. "But there are really two possibilities: either the Palestinian Authority will begin to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure -- or Israel will."

President Bush said Friday that the U.S. Treasury had frozen the assets of five European-based organizations believed to raise money for Hamas because of Tuesday's bus bomb.

He urged other nations to cut off funding for a group he said was "committed to violence against Israelis and to undermining progress toward peace."

But the White House was guarded about the threatened Israeli campaign against militant chiefs.

"We've always said that Israel has the right to defend herself," said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan. "We also always pointed out that the parties, including Israel, need to keep in mind the consequence of the actions that they take."

"Our focus is on getting the parties back together so they can work to resolve these issues," McClellan said.

After Tuesday's attack in Jerusalem, aides to Abbas said for the first time that he would go after militants, something he had previously rejected for fear of setting off a civil war. But those plans were scrapped after Israel's helicopter attack.

Palestinian legislator Ziad Abu Zayyad said the renewed violence threatens to topple the already weak prime minister -- also known as Abu Mazen -- 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."

Abbas, largely failing to win his own people's support because talks with Israel did not produce the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, appeared to be losing support among Israelis as well.