March 25, 2004
By News Agencies and Haaretz Service

The United States on Wednesday warned its citizens in Gaza to leave and advised against travel to Israel, the West Bank or Gaza, following Monday's assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday ordered the closure of diplomatic missions in Qatar and Mauritania for fear of terror attacks. The missions will remain closed throughout the holiday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yonatan Peled said the families were brought home a week before a planned home leave for the Jewish holiday of Passover.

He said there were no direct threats on the two small missions in the Arab world, but for "security reasons" the families were brought home.

The missions are small, and there are only about two or three families in each one, Peled said.

The State Department in a statement said "In the aftermath of the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Hamas spokesman has threatened revenge against Israel and U.S. interests."

"U.S. citizens are reminded to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness."

On Tuesday, U.S. embassies in Syria and Jordan issued similar warnings to American residents there.

Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, however, on Wednesday said Hamas had no plans to attack American targets. He said the group's agenda was to fight the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. These sentiments were echoed by another top Hamas official, Sayed Seyam, who told the Reuters news agency that "It's not in our policy to target Americans or American interests."

Hamas had released a statement shortly after the assassination on Monday, in which it directly threatened the U.S. for the first time in the group’s history.

"The Zionists didn't carry out their operation without the consent of the terrorist American administration, and it must bear responsibility for this crime," the statement said.

President George W. Bush told reporters on Tuesday that these threats by Hamas were being taken seriously.

"I'm worried about terrorist groups targeting America," Bush said when asked about the threat posed by Hamas. "Whether it be an Hamas threat, or an al Qaeda threat, we take them very seriously in this administration."

The State Department also renewed a previous warning about the possibility of attacks by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

"The Department of State remains concerned by indications that al Qaeda continues to prepare to strike U.S. interests abroad," the department said, warning of possible terrorist actions against aviation, ground transportation and shipping, specifically in the Middle East and North Africa.

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