GAZA CITY, Aug 21: Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior leader of the Hamas group, and two bodyguards were killed on Thursday in an Israeli airstrike that turned his car into a fireball in central Gaza City.

Hamas immediately announced an end to a seven-week-old ceasefire already considered dead by the Israelis after a massive suicide bombing in occupied Al Quds on Tuesday that left 20 bus passengers dead. The group also asked members to avenge the assassination.

Fourteen people were wounded, four of them seriously, after an Israel F-16 fired volleys of rockets that left Abu Shanab’s station wagon a twisted hulk of black, smoking metal, Hamas officials and witnesses said.

The body of Abu Shanab, one of the more moderate Hamas leaders, was burned almost beyond recognition. One of the dead bodyguards was identified as Haney Abu El Maren, son-in-law of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.

Security sources and eyewitnesses said the F-16 fired three rockets at the car, which burst into flames, killing all three men inside and leaving a huge crater. When Palestinians rushed up to aid the victims, the plane fired two more rockets.

Hundreds of grieving and enraged Palestinians chanting “Allahu Akbar” flocked to the scene of the midday attack near the local offices of the United Nations and the governor of Gaza.

Hundreds more, including Hamas militants firing Kalashnikovs in the air and people shouting “Revenge, revenge” milled around the hospital where the victims were all taken.—AFP