RAMALLAH: A senior Hamas official said the assassins of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai arrived in the region as part of Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau’s entourage.

Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a Gaza-based Hamas leader, said in a press statement that it was possible the assassins of Al-Mabhouh, an important commander of Hamas’ military wing Izz El-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, had come with Landau and entered Dubai under assumed identities, using false passports.

Landau recently took part in an environmental convention in Abu Dhabi.

Al-Zahhar said “a week before the assassination Uzi Landau visited the United Arab Emirates and he may have had people traveling with him under false names and additional citizenships.”

He added that “the Zionist occupation wants to change the rules of the game” by assassinating Al-Mabhouh and that Hamas had every right to defend itself.

“We will consider all of the positive and negative outcomes of response for the crime of assassination,” Al-Zahhar explained.

“We can hurt the occupation within the borders of Palestine or without. This is in our hands. We will choose the best thing for us, our people, and our ties with other Arab and Muslim countries.”

He added that Hamas was in touch with the United Arab Emirates security forces in charge of the investigation.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killing.

“The Israeli side is accustomed never to declare the crimes it commits, because it does not want to commit itself to diplomatic obligations or international law,” Al-Zahhar said.

He called on Arab countries sustaining diplomatic relations with Israel to respond to the incident in order to keep “the region from becoming a killing field.”

Izz El-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades vowed to “respond (against Israel) at the appropriate time and place.”

A senior source in Dubai said Friday afternoon that local police had managed to identify the men suspected of assassinating Al-Mabhouh, who was responsible for the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in the 1980s.

According to the official, the police were conducting a manhunt for the suspects, who he said have European passports, and had even appealed to the Interpol for help.

He added, however, that the two had apparently left the emirate.