A senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's party today threatened Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas with assassination if the group renews suicide bombings in Israel.
The comments by Tzachi Hanegbi, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, followed a sharp escalation of violence along the Israel-Gaza frontier and a declaration by Hamas that a 16-month-old truce had ended.
"Yassin and Rantissi are waiting for you, Haniyeh, if you implement the same stance of liquidating Jews, indiscriminate firing, and suicide terror attacks aimed at paralysing Israeli society anew," Mr Hanegbi said on Army Radio.
He was referring to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a co-founder of Hamas, and Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, another leader of the Islamic militant group. Both were assassinated in Israeli missile strikes in Gaza in 2004.
Hamas, which formed the Palestinian government in March after winning a January election, is sworn to Israel's destruction. Speaking to reporters in Gaza, Mr Haniyeh shrugged off Mr Hanegbi's threat as indicative of "a type of political madness from some Israeli leaders".
Hamas carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel after the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000 but halted such attacks in mid-2004 and largely abided by a ceasefire reached in early 2005.
The group is locked in a struggle with moderate President Mahmoud Abbas over a statehood manifesto, penned by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, that implicitly recognises Israel.
Hamas declared its truce dead on Friday after seven Palestinians, including three children, were killed on a Gaza beach on a day of Israeli shelling.
Israel has said the killings were a mistake and voiced regret, although it has not admitted responsibility.
In violence yesterday, Israeli helicopter strikes killed two Hamas militants in Gaza and rockets fired by members of the group wounded an Israeli.