Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi was killed in an Israeli helicopter missile strike on his car Saturday evening. Two other people were killed in the strike, witnesses said.

A burned, destroyed car was left on the road near Rantisi's house and one badly burned body was removed from the car by paramedics. Witnesses said there were three people in the car at the time.

The dead included Akram Nassar, 35, Rantisi's personal bodyguard and his son Mohammed, 27, hospital officials said.

Rantisi's wife was in the car, but her condition and location was not known, hospital sources and Hamas said.

Rantisi was taken to Gaza's Shifa Hospital in critical condition, his body pocked with bloody wounds, and rushed into emergency surgery, but he died five minutes after arriving at the hospital.

The explosion occurred a block from Rantisi's house in the Sheik Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, about 100 meters from where Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was buried after Israel assassinated him last month.

Palestinians ran into the street following the strike and called for revenge.

The attack comes hours after a Border Policeman was killed and three other Israelis were wounded in a suicide bombing at the Erez Crossing in Gaza, which Hamas jointly claimed with Fatah.

Rantisi was the newly-appointed head of the militant group in Gaza, following Yassin's assassination.

He one of the most hard-line members of the militant movement, which rejects all compromise with Israel and calls for the destruction of the state.

Israel had previously tried to kill Rantisi June 10 when hree Apache helicopters fired at least seven missiles toward Rantisi's car in a crowded Gaza thoroughfare, reducing his vehicle to a scorched heap of metal.

Rantisi escaped with a wound to the right leg. Two Palestinian bystanders were killed.

During the mourning period for Yassin, Rantisi was defiant about Israel's threats against him.

"We will all die one day. Nothing will change. If by Apache or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache," he said.