Israel released a cofounder of Hamas to the Gaza Strip but shot and killed another leader of the group in the West Bank on Wednesday, witnesses and a military source said.
Mohammed Taha, 68, had been the highest ranking Hamas figure from Gaza in Israeli custody. He was arrested during a military raid in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza in March 2003.
Witnesses said Taha was freed at the Erez crossing in northern Gaza on Wednesday afternoon, and then driven by supporters to Bureij, in central Gaza.
It was not immediately clear exactly why Taha was released at a time when Israel has stepped up operations against Hamas, having assassinated two leaders of the group - Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantissi - since March.
Shortly after Taha's release, Israeli soldiers shot dead a senior Hamas militant leader, Imad Mohammed Janajra, 31, in an olive grove in the northern West Bank, witnesses said.
An Israeli military source said Janajra was shot when soldiers spotted him armed and approaching them near his village of Talousa. The source said troops also detonated a bomb planted nearby.
Taha, received by thousands in Bureij who gave him a triumphant welcome, vowed to avenge Janajra's death.
He said Israel's strikes against the militants "will soon come down on their own and heads they will regret it only after it will be too late."
About a dozen Hamas men armed with assault rifles surrounded his car as celebrants tossed candy and supporters hoisted their white-robed and bearded leader on their shoulders to parade him through the streets.
Taha was asked about the March 22 assassination of Hamas leader Yassin and the April 18 killing by Israel of Yassin's successor, Rantissi.
Taha replied: "If the enemies of God believe that by killing the leaders of the movement they will kill the spirit of steadfastness, they are under an illusion."
The Israeli army had no immediate comment on Taha's release.
He had been arrested with three of his sons in a raid in which eight other Palestinians were killed. At the time, one of his sons told Reuters soldiers "crept into our house" and beat Taha before taking him into custody.
Another of his sons, Yasser Taha, was killed by Israeli in a targeted air strike in Gaza City last June.
PALESTINIANS READY FOR TALKS: QURIE
RAMALLAH: Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurie told the quartet of Middle East peace sponsors Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority was ready to resume talks with Israel immediately.
"I am pleased to inform you that we are ready for immediate negotiations with the Israeli government on all the issues of the permanent status," Qurie said in a letter to the four powers - the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States - who met Tuesday in New York.
Qurie hailed the quartet's statement condemning "unilateral steps that seek to pre-determine" these issues and recommending all the key points in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict be negotiated.
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