Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian mourners cried for vengeance for Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, slain by Israeli missiles even as the Jewish state plans to quit the group?s Gaza stronghold.

In secret, Hamas appointed a new official to replace Rantissi, the second leader of the militant group to be assassinated by Israel in less than a month. Hamas?s spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin was killed in a March 22 missile attack.

Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, praised the army for Saturday?s air strike on Rantissi, Hamas?s firebrand political leader in Gaza, vowing Israel would keep hunting militants.

?We will never allow the murderers of today, or those of tomorrow, to hurt our people. Those who dare to do so will be struck down,? Sharon said.

Earlier, Sharon told his cabinet the killing was part of a dual strategy to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, while striking militants. Key ministers pledged support for the plan after the meeting. Rantissi?s body was carried aloft on a stretcher draped in a green Hamas flag. Mourners kissed his shrapnel-sliced face and others tossed flower petals onto the body. Fists shook at the sky in anger as four Israeli warplanes roared overhead.

<B>?It is no doubt a crime?</B>

Protests against Rantissi?s assassination erupted across the West Bank in scenes that recalled the start of a Palestinian uprising more than 3-1/2 years ago. Israeli troops used teargas and rubber bullets to drive back stone-throwers.

In an incident that could signal spreading violence, police said patrolmen shot and wounded two Israeli Arabs who fired at them in north Israel. Israeli Arabs, while generally sympathetic to their Palestinian brethren, rarely take part in militancy.

?It is no doubt a crime,? Palestinian Prime Minister, Ahmed Qurie said about Rantissi?s killing. ?Unfortunately the Israelis feel they are supported by the United States administration.? Qurie wrote to world leaders urging them to restart Middle East peace talks, accusing the United States of breaking international law by making ?concessions? in the name of the Palestinians.

UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, criticised Rantissi?s killing. He was echoed by the European Union and Russia.

The United Nations, the EU, Russia and the United States form a ?Quartet? of brokers who have charted a ?road map? to a Middle East peace. But some European officials feel Bush?s statement last week sidelined the other group members.

?This is not the path to peace,? said Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. ?Any departure from the road map will only increase instability in the entire Middle East region.?

The United States denied giving Israel the green light to go after Rantissi but refrained from condemning the assassination. Sharon defended the move, saying: ?The policy is an effort on the one hand to progress on the diplomatic process and on the other to harm the terror organisations and those who lead them.? Rantissi was widely viewed as particularly hardline in a group that has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and is sworn to Israel?s destruction.

Israel killed Rantissi three days after Sharon won Bush?s backing at the White House for his plan to withdraw from Gaza and four small settlements in the West Bank by the end of 2005.

In a US policy shift, Bush said Israel could not be expected to give up all land captured in 1967 and rejected any right of return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel.

Sharon presented his ?disengagement plan? to his cabinet on Sunday. But a vote will be delayed until after a referendum on the pullout is held on May 2 among the 200,000 members of the Prime Minister?s right-wing Likud party.

<B>Nidal al-Mughrabi</B>