The head of the Hamas terrorist organization, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, is hiding from the IDF.
The Gaza-based terror chief has gone underground, fearing a targeted assassination by Israel, according to a report published Monday in the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds..
Intelligence sources have said that key Hamas leaders will indeed be targeted in response to the escalating Kassam rocket attacks emanating from Gaza. Hamas has maintained a stranglehold on the region since wresting control of the area from the rival Fatah terrorist organization that leads the current PA government.
Top “political” leaders in Hamas will be spared for the time being, said the intelligence sources, but Haniyeh has apparently decided to opt for certain safety for now.
Several Israeli officials, including Kadima MK Tzachi HaNegbi, the Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, have called on the government to topple the Hamas leadership body.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert opened Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting with the vow to “continue to reach all the responsible terrorists, including those who dispatch and operate them.” 
We will not give anyone special consideration.
Olmert warned that in the wake of escalating Kassam attacks that sent at least 50 missiles slamming into the western Negev over the weekend, terrorist leaders, including Haniyeh, would not be exempt from retaliation. “We will not give anyone 'special consideration,'” he stated.
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit was more explicit, telling an interviewer on IsraelI state television that Haniyeh is, “in my opinion, a legitimate target to be hit.”
The statements came following a Kassam rocket attack Saturday evening in which eight-year-old boy Osher Tuito lost his left leg and his 19-year-old brother Rami suffered serious wounds to his legs as well. At least 13 other people suffered severe emotional shock, including the boys’ 15-year-old brother and their mother.
Surgeons worked for hours to save Osher and Rami after the attack and succeeded in stabilizing both. Sunday morning they began new operations on each of the boys. Surgeons are hoping to save Osher’s other leg.