Gaza, inflicting a heavy blow on the movement's armed wing after
failing to kill its top military chief.
And a Hamas warning to foreign airlines to avoid flying into Israel's
main airport, appeared to have fallen on deaf ears with air traffic
operating as normal, aviation officials said.
Thursday's attack came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said that Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip may
be an extended operation.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, confirmed that
Mohamed Abo Shamaleh, Raed al-Attar and Mohamed Barhoum had been
killed in an Israeli airstrike on Rafah, the Reuters news agency
reported.
"The assassination... is a big Israeli crime, which will not succeed in
breaking our will or weakening our resistance," spokesman Sami Abu
Zuhri said in a statement, warning: "Israel will pay the price."
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from West Jerusalem, said this
looked like a return to Israel's "historical" tactics of targeting
senior figures.
"During this renewed round of hostilities we are seeing a different
approach, and this could be seen as an acknowledgement that military
tactics have not been delivering on several different levels," our
correspondent said.
"The previous tactics were not working diplomatically, in fact they
have been disastrous, seriously affecting Israel's international
prestige and even its relationships with firm allies."
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