Monday, June 12 2006 13:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jerusalem : Amid escalating violence, Israel has warned Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh that he could be targetted if he is found involved in attacks against the Jewish state.

"Rantisi and Yassin are waiting for you Haniyeh if you take the same position of killing Jews and of striking indiscriminately with suicide attacks that will try once again to freeze Israeli society," Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman, Tzahi Hanegbi, told Army Radio.

Hamas' founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his successor Abdel Aziz Rantisi were assassinated in Israeli targetted attacks in 2004.

Hanegbi, however, said that Israel estimates that Haniyeh, as a political leader of Hamas, is not involved at this point in planning attacks.

"If he begins directing the Hamas' military wing's declared plans to attack Israel, he could meet the same fate as his predecessors," Hanegbi warned.