GAZA CITY, Aug 22: Some 100,000 enraged Palestinians packed the streets of Gaza City on Friday for the funeral of a militant leader slain by Israeli rocketfire, the largest procession since the start of their uprising nearly three years ago.

In Nablus, Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinian militants inside a West Bank hospital, extending a new spiral of violence that has smashed a ceasefire vital to the US-backed roadmap.

Hoisting banners and flags and chanting anti-Israeli slogans, the mourners’ ranks were swelled by thousands more Gazans pouring out of Friday prayers to vent their anger over the death of Ismail Abu Shanab, a top leader of the Hamas group.

While mourning the deaths of Abu Shanab and his two bodyguards, killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday, the crowd also confirmed the end of a seven-week-old truce in the conflict with Israel as well as US-sponsored peace efforts.

The bodies of the three men were first transported from Shifa hospital to their respective homes in Gaza City, covered with the group’s green flag and surrounded by groups of gun-toting militants who also waved Holy Qurans and vowed to avenge the deaths of their movement’s founders.

Israel threatened more attacks on Palestinian militants. “This is only the beginning,” a senior Israeli source said. “We plan serious retaliation on the terrorist infrastructure,” he added.—AFP