The Palestinian government's security chief, a key player in rocket attacks on Israel, was killed late yesterday in an Israeli air strike that threatened to escalate clashes between the two sides into a far fiercer conflict.
The Hamas government called Jamal Abu Samhadana's assassination a direct assault on the Palestinian Authority, and vowed to continue its resistance against Israel.
Jamal Abu Samhadana
Abu Samhadana's Popular Resistance Committees faction vowed revenge.
The Israeli military confirmed it struck a PRC training camp in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, saying militants there were planning a large-scale attack on Israel.
It would not confirm or deny that Abu Samhadana, second on Israel's most wanted list, had been the target.
Abu Samhadana, leader of the small PRC faction, was an explosives expert and a suspect in the fatal 2003 bombing of a US convoy in the Gaza Strip. His recent appointment as Hamas' top enforcer infuriated Israel.
He and other militants had been about to enter the training camp in the former Jewish settlement of Rafiah Yam when the four missiles struck.
Three other militants were killed and ten were wounded in the attack, which knocked out electricity in the area.
Meanwhile this afternoon a powerful blast ripped through a lift at Palestinian intelligence headquarters, killing a guard and wounding six people, including the intelligence chief.
The intelligence service said its chief, Tareq Abu Rajab, was the target of an assassination attempt. Abu Rajab and six bodyguards and aides were in the lift when the blast went off.
Abu Rajab, who survived an assassination attempt two years ago, underwent surgery at a nearby hospital, but doctors refused to disclose his condition. The aides and guards were in a serious condition. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.
The explosion came at a time of growing tensions between the Hamas government and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The intelligence service and most members of the security forces are loyal to Mr Abbas. The blast went off before noon local time today.
Mr Abu Rajab and his entourage had got into the elevator and were close to the second floor when the explosion happened. security officials said.
The explosion caused massive damage, and bomb experts were sent to the scene to investigate. The wounded were driven to nearby Shifa Hospital in cars of the intelligence service. Fellow agents fired in the air from the windows of the vehicles to clear the way.
At Shifa Hospital, dozens of security agents closed off the operating theatre and jeeps blocked off access to the hospital.
Khaled Abu Hilal, spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, suggested the blast was set off when one of Abu Rajab's bodyguards inadvertently dropped a hand grenade.