Israeli helicopters fired missiles into a car in Gaza City today, killing a prominent leader of the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas and two others.
Initial reports suggested senior Hamas militant leader Ismail Abu Shanab was injured, but Hamas sources have said he died in the attack.
"Hamas will respond with deeds and not words," a Hamasofficial told journalists at the morgue where the body of Mr Abu Shanab was brought after the attack on his car.
Two bodyguards were also killed and several bystanders hurt.
"Israel will regret this and we will prove to the wholeworld that Israel only understands the language of power andresistance," the Hamas spokesman said.
Palestinian witnesses said four missiles struck the car in aresidential neighbourhood and that at least two women were among the casualties.
The attack occurred after Israel's governmentdecided on a return to wide-ranging strikes against Islamicmilitants following a Palestinian suicide bombing thatsplintered a seven-week-old truce key to a peace plan.
Israel earlier raided the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus in a new campaign of strikes in the Palestinian territories.
Witnesses said Israeli forces entered Jenin and left before dawn, searching the old city and western part of Nablus. Israeli military sources said two men were arrested in the raids.
Israeli security sources said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and security chiefs, meeting to discuss a suicide bombing that killed 18 people in Jerusalem, had agreed on wide-ranging steps to be taken against militants if the Palestinian government did not immediately move against them.
Israel also froze talks with the Palestinians after Tuesday's suicide attack, one of the deadliest in three years of violence since the Palestinians rose up seeking independence.
The statement did not say what steps Israel could take, but they were expected to include military raids to arrest or kill militants.
A senior Israeli source said the raids could begin in a matter of hours and last several days but that Israel appeared to have given them "a few more hours" to rein in the militants.
In an effort to stave off a tougher Israeli response to the suicide attack, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas cut off contacts with Islamic militant groups yesterday and ordered security forces to arrest those behind the bombing.
Mr Abbas and his cabinet later met President Yasser Arafat and his Fatah group in the West Bank city of Ramallah. They vowed to enforce the rule of law and reiterated their commitment to the three-month truce announced by militants on June 29th.
Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager during a raid to arrest militants on Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank yesterday. They said 10 other Palestinians were detained by the army, five of them wounded by gunfire.
Israel has shelved its planned handover of occupied West Bank cities, frozen high-level talks and reimposed a clampdown on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.