Two Palestinian boys mourn Yassin ‎

Additional Reporting By Mustafa El-Sawwaf, IOL Correspondent

GAZA CITY, March 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli occupation forces, given a green light from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, assassinated in the small hours of Monday, March 22, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, triggering an immediate outcry across occupied Palestine.

An Israeli strike helicopter fired three missiles at crippled Yassin and his entourage while in their way back home following the dawn prayers, IslamOnline.net correspondent says.

“Sheikh Yassin was dead when he came to hospital,” Gomaa El-Saqa, a doctor at El-Shifaa hospital in Gaza, told IOL.

Nine Palestinians, including seven of Yassin's bodyguards, were also killed in the monstrous raid, which also injured two sons of the veteran resistance leader.

Ambulances and fire trucks raced to the scene, sirens wailing and rescue workers were gathering up parts of the shattered bodies.

Palestinian hospital sources said 15 people were wounded in the strike.

Salah Amudi, 30, said he and a first aid nurse had picked up Yassin's remains from the ground and took them to the hospital in plastic bags.

"I was also at the mosque praying. Upon leaving, I heard a first missile, then a second and third," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Yassin's head was cut in two by the blast and part of his brain had fallen out, medics and an AFP reporter said.

Under Sharon's Supervision

A sea of Palestinians call for avenging the killing of Yassin‎

Sharon oversaw the entire operation, receiving constant updates from military officials at his Negev ranch, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

It said the Israeli security cabinet took the decision to assassinate Yassin following the March 14 double bombing at the Ashdod port in which 10 Israelis were killed.

Israeli troops went on heightened alert at roadblocks and in the occupied Palestinian territories after the crime. 

All border crossings into Israel were closed to Palestinians and a closure was clamped on the territories. The police also went on alert inside Israel, fearing reprisals.

Yassin was by far the most senior Palestinian resistance symbol killed in more than three years after the eruption of the second Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation.

Announcing Yassin's death, the Hamas leadership said, "Sharon has opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us from cutting off his head."

The aging spiritual leader of Hamas has been the target of numerous Israeli assassination attempts.

On September 6, an Israeli F-16 fighter jet fired several missiles at a three-story building at Al-Rimal downtown neighborhood in Gaza City where Sheikh Yassin was but he survived with just a small wound to his hand.

Palestinians On Edge

The heinous Israeli crime triggered a spontaneous Palestinian rallies throughout the occupied territories as droves of Palestinians took part in paying last respects to Yassin.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of West Bank cities, vowing to avenge the killing of 66-year-old Yassin.

The town of Jenin was the first to massively pay homage to Yassin, killed when Israeli helicopters fired missiles as he was leaving a mosque after dawn prayers.

A sea of wailing and shouting Palestinians gathered in a spontaneous march through the narrow streets of the city, carrying flags to the colors of Hamas as well as Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Palestine.

"The first reaction to this assassination will come from Jenin," vowed Zakaria Al-Zubeidi, the local leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

Among the crowd was a group of gun-toting fighters, some of them wearing empty suicide belts.

"This is the beginning of a new era. Sharon has started a new war against the Palestinian people and we are ready to fight him," Zubeidi shouted through a loudspeaker.

'New Intifada'

In Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank, some 8,000 Palestinians have already gathered in the town centre to mourn the historical figure of Hamas and vent their anger at Israel.

As they fired salvos in the air to the cheers of the swelling crowd, one of the marchers shouted through a loudspeaker that Sheikh Yassin's assassination marked a new stage in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"A new Intifada is born today," he proclaimed. "By Allah, we swear that the reprisals will come soon in the heart of Israel."

All the shops were closed and schoolchildren did not show up as mosques throughout the city were blaring out verses from the Qur'an.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat declared three days of mourning and the Palestinian flag above his office in the Ramallah "Muqataa" headquarters was flying at half-mast.

Some 2,000 Palestinians vowing bloody revenge headed towards Arafat's compound, urging the Palestinian leader to stop all peace talks with Israel and calling on Ezzudin Al-Qassam to swiftly strike back at Israel.

Thousands of Palestinians also poured onto the streets of Gaza City after the city's mosques announced the death of Yassin in unison at 5:20 a.m. (0320 GMT), five minutes after the assassination.

"It is a catastrophe, a tragedy. I can't believe Sheikh Yassin was assassinated," 45-year-old accountant Abu Abdullah Nadeem told AFP.

He was speaking outside Al-Shifaa hospital where an ever-growing crowd of Palestinian bystanders had gathered, stunned by the news.

"If they (Israel) killed a symbol, they won't manage to kill the whole Palestinian people," said Khaled, 42, joining a dense crowd that was marching towards Sheikh Yassin's house.

 "Sheikh Yassin was not only a symbol for the Palestinian people, but for the Muslim community worldwide. Even if they killed Sheikh Yassin, he will stay in our heart," he added.

Amjad Arafat was locking his sweets shop for the day.

"This is a devastating news. Sheikh Yassin was a symbol, a teacher. He loved people. His assassination will unleash a series of operations against Israel," he said.

Firing At Protestors

A man cries as he views the body of Yassin in Gaza's morgue

In the Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, Israeli troops opened fire at demonstrators, killing three people, including a 13-year-old child.

Medics named the boy as Musaab Al-Khalban and said he had been fatally hit in the head when troops opened fire from a watchtower in the nearby Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal.

A Palestinian journalist was shot dead by Israeli troops in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Nablus Monday while covering protests against the killing of Sheikh Yassin, medical sources said.

Mohammed Abu Halima, 22, was hit in the stomach after troops opened fire in the Balataa refugee camp. He was taken to hospital in Nablus where he died of his injuries.

He had working for the Al-Najah radio station, based in the northern West Bank city's university.

In the southern West Bank, four Palestinians were wounded when clashes broke out with the Israeli occupation troops near Bethlehem, Palestinian security sources said.

A loud explosion echoed on the Palestinian side of the main Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Monday, Aljazeera said. 

Also following the assassination, a Palestinian man attacked with an axe three Israelis in the West Bank.

Sheikh Yassin was born in the village of Al-Joura south of the Gaza Strip in 1938.

Yassin's emblematic image is ubiquitous throughout the Gaza Strip, and adorns Israeli prison cells of many Palestinians.

He frequently said Hamas was willing to stop its operations if Israel ended the occupation of Palestinian territories and stopped killing Palestinian women, children and innocent civilians. 

• Click to watch Sheikh Yassin’s assassination