Tens of thousands of angry Hamas supporters threatened revenge against Israel during the funeral procession for Adnan al-Ghoul, 46, a founder and deputy chief of the Hamas military wing who had been on Israel's most-wanted list since 1990.

''Hamas is loyal to the blood of its martyrs and will continue on the path of holy war and resistance until we achieve victory by defeating the Zionists,'' Ismail Hanieh, a top Hamas leader in Gaza, said in a rare public appearance at a Gaza City mosque.

Hamas, which opposes the Jewish state's existence, has killed hundreds of Israelis in the past four years of fighting.

Israel has waged a relentless campaign of killing Hamas leaders, and Israeli analysts said Thursday's strike on al-Ghoul dealt a major blow to the militant group. Al-Ghoul was an expert in making bombs, crude anti-tank missiles and the Qassam rockets the group has fired at Israeli communities.

Al-Ghoul's assistant, Imad Abbas, was also killed.

Violence has increased in Gaza since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced plans earlier this year to withdraw from the volatile coastal strip as both sides try to claim victory ahead of the pullout. Sharon is to present his Gaza withdrawal plan to parliament for a vote Tuesday.

To stop militants in Gaza from firing rockets into Israel, the army launched a bloody 17-day raid into northern Gaza that ended last week

A U.N. Reliefs and Works Agency report released Friday said the ''Days of Penitence'' offensive killed 107 Palestinians, wounded 431 others, left nearly 700 people homeless and caused more than $3 million in damage.

Hamas' ability to strike back at Israel has been severely weakened by a string of Israeli assassinations of its top leaders. Al-Ghoul narrowly escaped two previous attempts on his life and had been in hiding for years.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath condemned the strike as ''the kind of behavior which makes it very, very difficult to reach a cease-fire and very difficult to create the environment for peace.''

Shaath, who was speaking in Brussels, Belgium, said such strikes simply incite more attacks.

A 40-year-old Palestinian woman wounded in Khan Younis earlier this month died of her wounds Friday, hospital officials said. Israeli troops shot the woman in the head.