Hamas Tabs Hard-Liner New Chief

Abdel Aziz Rantisi was chosen Tuesday as the new Hamas leader in Gaza, replacing the group's founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel a day earlier.

The announcement was made over loudspeaker during a gathering of tens of thousands of Hamas supporters at a soccer stadium in Gaza City.

"After the assassination of the hero, the martyr Ahmed Yassin, a secret election was held ... in which Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi was chosen as the new leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement," a senior Hamas official, Ismail Hanieh, told the crowd.

People in the crowd chanted Rantisi's name.

Rantisi, a 54-year-old pediatrician who escaped an Israeli assassination attempt last June, opposes even a temporary truce with Israel.

Rantisi told The Associated Press that Hamas would press for more attacks against Israel. "We will be unified in the trenches of resistance," Rantisi said. "We will not surrender, we will never surrender to Israeli terror."

He is a familiar public figure, speaking good English on television, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. Rantissi frequently speaks out in support of suicide bombings and the destruction of Israel.

Khaled Mashaal, who lives abroad, will be the overall leader of the group.

Israel has tried to assassinate both men, and has made it clear it will try again.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli military vehicle Tuesday near Gaza City and fired a mortar at a nearby settlement, the army said. The attacks caused no casualties or damage.

Later a number of homemade Qassam rockets landed near the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel, witnesses said.

Israel will continue striking at Hamas leaders, Israel's defense minister said Tuesday, a day after the founder of the Islamic militant group, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was assassinated in a missile attack.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and his security chiefs have decided to try to kill the entire Hamas leadership, without waiting for another terror attack, security sources said Tuesday.

The killing of Yassin threatens to escalate Israel-Palestinian fighting. Fearing revenge, Israel beefed up security throughout the country and at missions abroad.

Hamas, founded by Yassin in 1987, wants to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state. Mofaz said Monday that Hamas killed 377 Israelis and wounded more than 2,000 in hundreds of attacks.

Mofaz said Tuesday that other Hamas leaders would be targeted. "If we will continue, in a determined way, with our strikes against Hamas and other terror groups, with the means I outlined, including action against those leaders, we will bring more security to Israeli citizens," he said.

Asked if Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is on the list of terror leaders, Mofaz smiled and answered, "You should ask him."

"Anyone who is involved in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank or anywhere else in leading a terror group knows from yesterday there is no immunity," Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told reporters. "Everyone is in our sights. There is no immunity to anyone."

Israel's army chief also suggested that Arafat and the chief of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, would eventually be assassinated by Israel.

"I think that their responses yesterday show that they understand that it is nearing them," Moshe Yaalon said when asked if the two men were in Israel's crosshairs.

Arafat's aides say the Palestinian leader is concerned about being targeted. It was not clear what response by Nasrallah the army chief was referring to.

Mofaz and Israeli security chiefs met for five hours late Monday and decided to step up targeted attacks, the security sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They said officials decided to go after the entire Hamas leadership without waiting for another attack by the militant group.

A decision on targeting top Hamas officials was first made last week by Israel's Cabinet, in response to a double suicide bombing at an Israeli seaport.

Ismail Hanieh, a top Yassin aide, said Hamas took a blow to morale, but would continue carrying out attacks on Israel. "Sheik Yassin's death is not going to harm or affect the movement. It's going to give us encouragement to go ahead with our program to achieve our goal," Hanieh said.

That's nonsense, said Israeli terrorism expert Dan Schueftan.

"The motivation of the Palestinians to carry out terrorist actions is 100 percent," he told Berger. You cannot go beyond 100 percent."

Israel has increased security both at home and abroad. Jerusalem's usually lively streets were mostly empty Monday night, due to fears of a Hamas attack. Buses remained empty on Tuesday.

Checkpoints were set up around major cities, and police were visible on city streets Tuesday. Tel Aviv police commander Yossi Sedbon told Army Radio on Tuesday that he expects the alert level to remain high for at least a month.

"This is a war and a war must be fought as a war," said Cabinet Minister Uzi Landau.

Outside the country, Israel stepped up security at embassies, consulates and other official offices. Israeli officials also advised various Jewish centers around the world to take precautions. Israel fears that groups operating abroad, like Hezbollah or al Qaeda, might strike to show solidarity with Hamas, the officials said.

The assassination, which killed seven other people, received large support in Israel, despite the belief that it will spark more violence. The Yediot Ahronot daily published a poll showing 60 percent of Israelis that killing Yassin was the right thing to do, while 32 percent thought it was wrong.

A Maariv poll showed 61 percent of respondents said they supported the assassination and 21 percent said they were opposed.

"No one in the system, not even Sharon, believes that the assassination of the sheik will reduce the scope of terror. There is no strategy here: just bitter frustration and mounting difficulty to look the voters in the eye," wrote Yediot columnist Nahum Barnea.