GAZA, March 23: Palestinian militant leader Khaled Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997, was named Hamas's overall chief on Tuesday, replacing the group's slain founder Ahmed Yassin, a Hamas source said.

It was not immediately clear whether Meshaal, head of Hamas's politburo who lives in exile in the Arab world, was assuming the position permanently or on an acting basis until the group holds a leadership election.

The Hamas source said Meshaal had taken over the duties of Yassin, the spiritual leader killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza on Monday. Meshaal was the target of an Israel hit squad who were caught by Jordanian authorities in 1997 after they injected him with a drug during a daring daylight attack on an Amman street.

Jordan's King Hussein was so enraged by the attack he talked of hanging the captured Israelis unless they handed over an antidote to save Meshaal, who lay unconscious in hospital, his respiratory system collapsing under the effects of the drug.

Eventually Jordan returned Israel's would-be assassins in return for the antidote to save Meshaal and the release from Israeli jail of dozens of Palestinians, including Yassin.

Also on Tuesday, senior Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi was named leader of the group for the Gaza Strip Sayed Seyam, a Hamas political leader, said Rantissi had been given responsibility for the Gaza Strip but not for the West Bank. -Reuters