A senior Hamas leader said the Israeli order to "completely wipe out" his movement was evidence of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's failure tostop the intifada.
"This threat reveals the security and political crisis Sharon is facing because he has failed to crush the Palestinian intifada and bring security to his citizens," Ismail Haniya told journalists.
Following a meeting between Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and the army's leaders, Israeli troops were ordered to use "whatever means necessary" to annihilate Hamas "from the lowliest member to Sheikh Ahmad Yassin," the movement's spiritual guide.
"It is not the first time the Zionists threaten our movement and our political leaders. Every Palestinian has become a target for Israel," Haniya said.
"This Israeli order heralds an all-out war against thePalestinian people, continuing the escalation it started after the Aqaba summit," he added.
At the three-way summit convened by the United States last week in Jordan the Palestinian and Israeli governments pledged their commitment to the "roadmap", a blueprint that paves the way for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
AFP