GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas threatened "100 unique reprisals" against Israel for killing its leader, Abdel Aziz Rantissi, as hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the streets in a show of strength and fury.

Hamas chose a replacement for Rantissi on Sunday, but did not disclose his name - a sign that Israel's systematic campaign to wipe out the Hamas leadership ahead of a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has put the Islamic militant group on the defensive.

It remained unclear whether the Islamic militant group can still carry out large-scale attacks. It has failed to do so in the three weeks since Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday picked up the support of key Cabinet ministers for his unilateral "disengagement" plan, including the Gaza withdrawal, assuring him of a Cabinet majority ahead of a hard-fought referendum among the 200,000 members of his Likud Party.

Sharon told the Cabinet on Sunday that he would forge ahead with his plan and continue to "hit the terror organizations and their leaders."

Cabinet minister Gideon Ezra said the overall Hamas leader, Damascus-based Khaled Mashaal, was also a target. Rantissi was in charge of the Palestinian areas and reported to Mashaal.

In another development, a 24-year-old Palestinian died late Sunday of wounds suffered earlier in the day in a clash during a demonstration against a security barrier Israel is building in the West Bank, hospital officials said. The Israeli military denied it fired live ammunition.

Furious demonstrations

The killing of Rantissi set off demonstrations - some of them violent - across Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in Arab countries.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops shot and critically wounded a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in a clash between stone throwers and soldiers.

The military reported dozens of minor incidents through the day, most of them involving Palestinians throwing rocks and firebombs. Late Sunday, police shot and wounded two Israeli Arabs in Israel's northern Galilee region. The police commander said the Arabs opened fire on a border police patrol.

Israel rebuffed international criticism, including by several European countries. It said Rantissi - like Yassin - was targeted because he directed bloody Hamas attacks against Israelis and was planning more.

However, many Palestinians held the US responsible for Rantissi's death, saying it is giving Israel free rein.

"The Palestinian government considers this Israeli terrorist campaign to be a direct result of American encouragement and the total American bias in favour of the Israeli government," said Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, echoing a widely held sentiment in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palestinian officials are furious with US President George W. Bush for sidelining them, endorsing Sharon's unilateral plan and backing Israel's demand to hang on to parts of the West Bank.

Next target?

Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, denied that Bush gave Sharon the go-ahead for the Rantissi killing during their White House meeting last week. She told ABC TV that Israel has the right to defend itself, but that it is "extremely important that Israel take into consideration the consequences of anything that it does."

Mashaal said Sunday that the killing of Rantissi only strengthened his group and boosted support. However, a local leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, acknowledged Hamas suffered a temporary setback.

Palestinian officials said they are worried the next target for assassination will be Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whom Israel accuses of fomenting terror. The Israeli Cabinet voted last year to "remove" Arafat.

In Sunday's funeral, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians thronged the streets of Gaza City. In addition to Rantissi, two bodyguards were killed when two missiles struck the car they were travelling in.

Hamas supporters chanted "God is great" and "revenge, revenge" and threw flowers at the three men's stretchers.

Hamas posted a statement on its Web site pledging "100 unique reprisals" against Israel. It said it declared a state of emergency in the West Bank and Gaza until revenge was complete.

Hamas leaders have threatened to target Israeli leaders, who are heavily guarded and travel in reinforced vehicles with bodyguards and convoys.

Israel claims its security forces have foiled a dozen planned attacks, but analysts warn that sooner or later, a Hamas bomber will elude the checks. In more than three years of violence, Hamas has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings in Israel, killing hundreds.

On the other hand, a security fence around Gaza has stopped most infiltrations. In one exception, two Palestinians from Gaza hid in a false compartment of a shipping container, made their way to Israel's Ashdod port March 14 and blew themselves up, killing 10 Israelis. That bombing set off the Israeli campaign against the Hamas leadership.

Hamas has mounted dozens of attacks from the West Bank, but recently the Israeli military claimed it rounded up the entire local Hamas leadership in Nablus, the West Bank's largest city.

Political maneuvering might hold back Hamas, which is engaged in sensitive talks with the Palestinian Authority over possible power-sharing in Gaza after an Israeli withdrawal.

Israeli terrorism expert Reuven Paz said the killing of Yassin and Rantissi did not reduce the Hamas' ability to carry out attacks. He noted that increasingly, militant groups are co-operating for greater effectiveness.

(Agencies via Xinhua)