The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has condemned Israel 's assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and said it would do nothing to help Middle East peace efforts.
"I do condemn the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin and the others who died with him," Annan said as he arrived at United Nations headquarters in New York.
"Such actions are not only contrary to international law but they do not do anything to help the search for a peaceful solution," he told reporters.
The United Nations is a member of the "quartet" of Middle East advisers along with the United States, Russia and the European Union. They agreed in 2002 on the so-called "road map" on steps toward an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli security sources said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon personally ordered and monitored a helicopter attack against the paralysed cleric outside a Gaza mosque.