Israeli helicopters killed seven Palestinians, including a senior Hamas member, his wife and infant daughter, as Israel and the Islamic group Hamas dropped any pretense of peace and declared all-out war. Palestinian medical sources said more than 30 other people were wounded in the fifth Israeli helicopter raid in Gaza in three days, including an attempt Tuesday to kill a senior Hamas political leader that sparked a new cycle of bloodshed. The attack Thursday targeting Yasser Taha, a leader of Hamas' military wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, came hours after Israeli public radio announced the army's intention to "completely wipe out" the hardline group. Hamas advised foreigners to leave Israel and warned in a statement that the bombing of a Jerusalem bus on Wednesday that killed 16 victims was "only the beginning of a new series of reprisals" against Israel. "The Al-Qassam cells are called upon to act rapidly to transform the Zionist entity into blood and ruins," said the group, which has been responsible for most of the anti-Israeli violence in the 32-month-old Palestinian uprising. Since US President George W. Bush convened a peace summit in Aqaba, Jordan, on June 4, nearly 60 people have been killed, dashing hopes for implementation of his "roadmap" leading to the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005. But after criticising Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the attempt Tuesday to kill Hamas political leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, the United States has gotten behind the move to crush the Islamic movements and 'Uprising'. Israeli army radio said the military had been ordered to use "whatever means necessary" to eradicate Hamas, following a meeting of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz with the army's top command shortly after Wednesday's bus bombing. Everyone, "from the lowliest member to Sheikh Ahmad Yassin", a Hamas founder and its semi-paralysed spiritual guide, is a legitimate target, according to the army radio report. Hamas called the decision "a declaration of all-out war, not only against Hamas, but against the Palestinian people" and called on its members to mobilize and take precautions. A crowd estimated to number more than 30,000 attended the funerals Thursday of 10 Palestinians killed in earlier Israeli helicopter raids on Gaza City, amid cries for revenge but also concern among civilians over a looming showdown. Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said that "every Palestinian was a target" for Israel and charged that Israel's order to wipe out his movement was evidence that Sharon had failed his people. "This threat reveals the security and political crisis Sharon is facing because he has failed to crush the Palestinian intifada and bring security to his citizens," Haniya told AFP. In Thursday's attack, four helicopter gunships fired six missiles at Taha's car in the northern Gaza City neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan, while a seventh was fired as bystanders rushed to help the wounded, medical sources said. Hamas sources at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital where the bodies and wounded were taken said Taha was in the car with his wife and their three-year-old daughter when the missiles hit. One of the missiles ripped into a nearby house, shattering the roof and setting it on fire, an AFP correspondent reported from the scene. A survivor of the blast, Ayman Maadi, 18, said almost his entire family had been hurt by the missile which blasted his house. A crowd of angry Palestinians gathered around the smoldering wreckage of Taha's car shortly after the attack which scattered debris over a wide area. A blood-stained sandal floated in water gushing from damaged water pipes. **PHOTO CAPTION*** An injured Palestinian is carried into Shifa hospital in Gaza City after an Israeli helicopter attack. A senior leader of the armed wing of Hamas was among the seven people killed in an Israeli helicopter strike.(AFP/Mohammed Abed)