This article was originally published in Arabic by the Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar and was translated into English by Mideastwire.com. It is republished with permission.

A high ranking Palestinian official close to the Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, revealed to Al-Akhbar yesterday that the Israeli government informed the Palestinian Authority that it intends to return to the policy of assassinations and liquidations against the leaders and activists in the Palestinian factions. The official, who refused to reveal his identity, announced that Israel informed the Palestinian president that it has a list of names that it wants to assassinate "after it ascertains that they stand behind the launching of Palestinian rockets against the Israeli towns." The official refused to reveal all the names on the Israeli hit list but settled for announcing that it includes the names of well known figures in the Palestinian street.

"The official announced that the list includes the names of the two leaders in the Islamic Resistance movement Hamas, Mahmud Al-Zahhar and Sa'id Siyam, whom Israel accused of heading the hardliner movement inside Hamas. The official announced that the list also includes the names of Ahmad Al-Ja'bari and Abu Ans Al-Ghandour from the "Ezze-Eddine Al-Qassam Brigades," the military wing of the Hamas movement in Gaza and the spokesman for the Brigades, Abu Obeida, as well as the leader in the Islamic Jihad movement Muhammad Al-Hindi whom Israel accuses of coordinating between the political heads and military leaders in his movement. The list also includes the spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees Abu Mojahed and the prominent leader in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military arm of the Fatah movement, Khaled Hejazi.

The list also includes the names of field commanders in the military wing of Islamic Jihad including Majed Al-Herzein and Ahmad Al-Sheikh Khalil plus the political leader in Islamic Jihad Khaled Al-Batsh. The Palestinian official expected that the next few days will witness a major Israeli military escalation against the Gaza Strip. He pointed out that the "tone in which the Israeli government spoke yesterday is different than ever before. This tone might be a title or a signal to the plan that what the Israeli government wants to implement in the Gaza Strip that would destroy everything and everyone." The announcement made by the Palestinian official coincides with Israeli radio announcing that the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and his defence minister Amir Peretz ratified a list of targets to be attacked in case the Palestinian rocket attacks continued.

Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities started partially evacuating the city of Sderot. The Israeli media reported that Olmert still objects to a full evacuation of the city because this would represent a "psychological victory" for the Hamas movement. The municipality of Sderot is evacuating about 4,000 Israeli citizens after the Palestinians launched about 50 missiles on the area in the past 24 hours.