SDEROT, Israel — Israel's leaders are threatening to assassinate the Palestinian Arab prime minister, Ismail Haniyah.

The warning comes as the Jewish state continues its military campaign against Hamas leaders and terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's deputy defense minister, Ephraim Sneh, told Israel Radio that no Hamas leader was "immune from a strike."

"When someone preaches that the state of Israel should be destroyed, he is not in the political echelon, he is a terrorist in a suit," he said.

Mr. Sneh is the fourth Israeli politician this week to raise the possibility of attacking Mr. Haniyah. But he is the first from inside the Defense Ministry to spell it out so clearly.

The Hamas spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in 2004, as was his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a few weeks later.

In response to the threats, a Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said: "Any harm to Mr. Haniyah or any Hamas leader would mean a change in the rules of the game, and the occupation must be ready to pay an unprecedented price."

For the past week, Israel has been firing missiles on what it says are Islamist militant targets after factional violence inside the strip led to rocket attacks on Israeli soil.

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, traveled to Gaza yesterday after days of delay.

The chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said he planned to stay several days for talks to renew a ceasefire with Israel.

Nearly 40 Palestinian Arabs have been killed in a week of Israeli airstrikes, with scores more injured.

Eleven Israelis have been killed by Kassam rockets in the past three years, including a 32-year-old single mother on Monday night, who died after a direct hit.

More than 180 Kassams have been launched from Gaza in the past eight days.

The Israeli army helped evacuate many of Sderot's residents for the Shavuot holiday, which began last night. But many of those who have not already fled are furious and openly calling for their army to flatten Gaza.

[Norway said it would make its first transfer of direct aid to the Palestinian Arabs' new government, more than two months after the Nordic country broke with most Western nations by recognizing the Hamas-led coalition, the Associated Press reported.

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday that Norway would soon transfer $10 million to a financial account set up by the Palestinian Arab finance minister, Salam Fayyad.

"I urge others to follow," Mr. Stoere said. "We need to demonstrate that we are ready to engage, politically, and financially" with the Palestinian Arab government.]

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