GAZA CITY, April 18 (IslamOnline.net) - Hamas threatened Saturday, April 17, a "volcano of revenge" against Israel for assassinating its newly-appointed leader in the Gaza Strip Abdelaziz Rantissi.

"Our revenge will come a hundredfold for the blood of Rantissi and Yassin," the armed wing of Hams, Ezzudin Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement, also referring to Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin who was assassinated by Israel in March.

Rantissi was assassinated Saturday in an Israeli air strike that also killed at least two other Palestinians.

The brigades vowed to "explode a volcano of revenge" in retaliation for the killing.

"We tell the Palestinians and Arab peoples that Hamas response will be qualitative, which needs to be well-prepared on parallel to the blood of Rantissi and Sheikh Ahmad Yassin," added the statement.

An Israeli strike helicopter fired three missiles at the 67-year-old wheelchair-bound Sheikh Yassin on March 22 after performing the dawn prayers in a mosque near his home, killing him and at least eight others.

Hamas has put its fighters on maximum alert until they carry out "ground-shaking operations against the criminal entity [Israel]".

Hamas said in a statement Sunday, April 18, that it had appointed a successor to Rantissi but his name would be kept under wraps for fear he might be targeted by Israel.

Head of Hamas' politburo Khaled Meshaal, the resistance movement number one, had urged the group leaders in the Gaza Strip to promptly select a new leader, but without revealing his name.

The assassination of Rantissi has sparked a chorus of international condemnation with the exception of the United States, which said Israel "has the right to defend itself."

The Israeli army, police and domestic security service all stepped up their level of alert in the wake of the helicopter raid.

An IslamOnine.net poll showed last month that Israel would not be safer after the assassination of Sheikh Yassin.