Sharon supervises assassination of Ahmad Yassin; Hamas vows revenge
The Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas) threatened to " cause death in every house in Israel " in revenge for the assassination of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of the movement today, Monday following dawn prayers.
Through loudspeakers in the streets of Gaza, fighters from Hamas said that Sheikh Yassin is in peace and they will never enjoy it. They also said they will send death to every house and city and street in Israel. Ezz Eddine al-Qassam group, the military wing of Hamas said in a statement that the answer to the assassination of Sheikh Yassin will be " like an earthquake."
In a statement, the group said " we have decided to retaliate immediately. we will hit every where until the destruction of the Zionist states," stressing " we will hit every where and our answer will be unexpected."
In a statement to the Qatari al-Jazeera TV, the movement's leading figure Abdul Aziz al-Ranteisi said that the killing of Sheikh Yassin comes in the context of targeting Islam in Palestine and vowed an open battle with the Israelis.
Member of the Islamic Jihad movement Khaled al-Batesh deplored the killing in statements to al-Jazeera TV and gave his condolences to Muslims on the assassination of " leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin."
The Palestinian authority also deplored the operation and the Palestinian prime minister Ahmad Qurei' described it as "a crazy and very grave act and opens the door wide before disorder, as Sheikh Yassin is known for his moderate stances and was controlling Hamas and then this is a grave and coward act."
On the other hand, the Israeli radio said that the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon " personally supervised the assassination of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin during a raid carried out by one Israeli helicopter today at dawn. The radio said that Sharon personally green lighted the assassination of Ahmad Yassin and supervised the operation.
The Israeli deputy defense minister, Zaef Boem, said to the Israeli radio that Sheikh Yassin " deserves death because of the terrorist operations committed by Hamas." Boem, the first Israeli official to admit openly of the assassination operation, said that there is no terrorist official that enjoys immunity" remarking by that the possibility of carrying out similar killing operations against extremist Palestinians organizations members.
Hamas eulogized Sheikh Yassin who was assassinated by one Israeli helicopter by three missiles while on his mobile chair upon his coming out from a mosque in Sabra quarters where he had gone for prayers.
This operation came after the decision of the security occupation government intensified its operations against the Palestinian movements, especially the Hamas in retaliation of the twin operations in Ashdoud to the south of Israel which resulted in killing 10 persons and the killing of its two executors on Tuesday last Monday.
One Israeli official said after the meeting " we will intensify our operations against Hamas and its leaders." The Israeli minister of the interior, Afraham Buraz, said that Hamas intensified recently its attacks to prove it is able to expel Israel from Gaza, but we will continue fighting terrorism."
Meantime, Egypt's Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi on Monday condemned the killing of spirtual leader of the Palestinian movement of Hamas earlier in the day in an Israeli airstrike.
In press statement, Sheikh Tantawi said that the assassination of Sheikh Yassin and his companions is a despicable crime that shook the entire world.
The assassins did not take into consideration the fact that Sheikh Yassin was an old and paralyzed man, Tantawi said.
He also urged both the Arab and Muslim worlds and the entire humanity to punish those who perpetrated this heinous crime.