Hamas issue terror threat

Hamas has threatened a new bombing campaign when Israeli prime minister-elect Ariel Sharon takes office

JERUSALEM -- The military wing of the hardline Palestinian group Hamas has said it is ready to launch a suicide bombing campaign against Israel.

A statement issued by Hamas on Saturday was in response to Israel's army chief warning of tough measures being considered to crush a Palestinian revolt.

In a statement faxed to the Reuters news agency in Gaza, the Hamas Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades said they would launch suicide bombings on Israel once Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon took power.

"Up to the minute the statement was written, more than 10 potential martyrs were ready to strike the Zionist depths with their bodies and this will not take long," the Hamas statement said, referring to suicide bombers.

"We will not remain in the status of self-defence for long. We will expand it to the status of attack... this puzzle will not take long. The world will see it on the first day the criminal Sharon takes power."

TIMELINES Recent acts of violence in the Middle East:  • Bombings  • Activist deaths

The statement was issued as fresh violence broke out in the West Bank.

Israeli radio reported a Palestinian woman was shot and killed in Ramallah after she became caught in crossfire shooting as she was shopping.

The 43-year-old victim died as she walked home with her husband and three daughters and another Palestinian.

A hospital official said Aydeh Efteehe was hit in the stomach by a bullet used in Israeli machine guns.

The Israeli army said there was a gun battle near al-Bireh where Efteehe was shot.

A nine-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead in al-Bireh by Israeli troops on Friday.

"For the second consecutive day, Palestinians are being slaughtered by the Israeli army, who are shooting indiscriminately at the Palestinians without any justification," said Jibril Rejoub, the head of Palestinian Preventive Security in the West Bank.

"We demand the international community provide us with international protection," he added.

In another incident, at least five Israelis were hurt on Saturday when a petrol bomb was thrown at the bus they were riding in north of the Palestinian-ruled town of Jericho, the army said. It said a gunfight had also erupted near the West Bank town of Jenin.

The Hamas statement was released hours after Israeli army chief of staff Shaul Mofaz said Israel would intensify its fight against the Palestinian uprising that erupted last September after Sharon visited a site in Jerusalem holy to Muslims and Jews.

"We have to continue fighting terrorism with all our might," Mofaz told Israel Radio.

"I think the incidents of the past few days obligate us to raise the threshold in our amount of action and our pressure on those same terrorists and those who send them."

Sharon is putting the finishing touches on his new government of national unity and is expected to present his line-up to the Israeli Parliament next week.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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