Editing Ahmed Yassin (section)

===Palestinian===
The [[Palestinian Authority]] declared three days of mourning and closed Palestinian schools. Hamas official [[Ismail Haniyeh]] suggested, "This is the moment Sheikh Yassin dreamed about". The Hamas leadership said Ariel Sharon had "opened the gates of hell". Hamas called for retaliation against Israel. About 200,000 people took to the streets of the Gaza Strip for Yassin's funeral as Israeli forces declared a national alert.<ref name=csm/>

The assassination of Yassin also led to the fact that Hamas, for the first time, was named as the most popular movement in Palestine by the residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip two weeks after the assassination.<ref name=hafter>{{cite journal |last=Hroub |first=Khaled |title=Hamas after Shayk Yasin and Rantisi |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |year=2004 |volume=XXXIII |issue=4 |pages=21–38 |url=http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/files/k/kKEpHi/Hamas%20after%20sheikh%20yasin%20and%20rantisi.pdf |access-date=22 March 2015 |doi=10.1525/jps.2004.33.4.021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731141405/http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/files/k/kKEpHi/Hamas%20after%20sheikh%20yasin%20and%20rantisi.pdf |archive-date=31 July 2013 | issn = 0377-919X }}</ref>

[[Abdel Aziz Rantisi]] was announced as the new head of Hamas. At a memorial service for Sheik Yassin, he declared that "The Israelis will not know security... We will fight them until the liberation of Palestine, the whole of Palestine."<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E1DB1430F937A15750C0A9629C8B63 |work=The New York Times |title=After Sheik Is Slain, Hamas Picks Fiery Figure as Its Leader in Gaza |first=Greg |last=Myre |date=24 March 2004 |access-date=23 April 2010 |archive-date=26 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426044449/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/world/after-sheik-is-slain-hamas-picks-fiery-figure-as-its-leader-in-gaza.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Publicly addressing the "military wing" of Hamas, Rantisi suggested, "The door is open for you to strike all places, all the time and using all means."<ref name="autogenerated1"/> Rantisi was himself killed by Israel on 17 April 2004 in an assassination almost identical to that of Yassin.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Derek |title=Leader of Hamas for just 25 days, he fought for a free Palestine |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/apr/19/guardianobituaries.israel |website=The Guardian |date=19 April 2004 |publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited |access-date=3 June 2015 |archive-date=15 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015051354/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/apr/19/guardianobituaries.israel |url-status=live }}</ref> He was killed by three rockets fired from a [[gunship]] by the Israeli military.<ref>{{cite web |title=Qassam Brigades marks 11th anniversary of Sheikh Yassin's assassination |url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17682-qassam-brigades-marks-11th-anniversary-of-sheikh-yassins-assassination |website=Middle East Monitor |access-date=3 June 2015 |archive-date=20 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720065514/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17682-qassam-brigades-marks-11th-anniversary-of-sheikh-yassins-assassination |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/17/mideast.violence/ |website=CNN International |publisher=Cable News Network LP, LLLP |access-date=26 June 2024 |date=18 April 2004 |archive-date=1 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201043617/http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/17/mideast.violence/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 31 August 2004, at least 15 Israeli people were killed and 80 injured in [[Beersheba bus bombings|a suicide attack]] against two Israeli buses in [[Beersheba]]. Hamas stated the attack was a revenge for the assassination of Rantisi and Yassin.<ref>{{cite book |title=The new Iranian leadership: Ahmadinejad, terrorism, nuclear ambition, and the Middle East |first1=Yonah |last1=Alexander |first2=Milton M. |last2=Hoenig |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-275-99639-0}}</ref> Following the bombing, an estimated 20,000 Hamas supporters in Gaza took to Gaza's streets, celebrating the successful attack.<ref name="reuters">{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/palestinians-celebrate-deadly-israeli-bus-bombings-1.133300 |title=Palestinians celebrate deadly Israeli bus bombings |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012120738/https://www.haaretz.com/news/palestinians-celebrate-deadly-israeli-bus-bombings-1.133300 |archive-date=12 October 2017 |work=Haaretz |access-date=26 June 2024 |url-status=live |publisher=Retuers |date=1 September 2004}}</ref>