Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Israel should be fully responsible for the life of Ahmed Saadat and five other prominent militants, who were detained by Israeli troops during a raid on a major prison in the West Bank town of Jericho on Tuesday.

Saadat has been jailed in the Jericho prison since August 2002 as Israel accused him of ordering the assassination of an Israeli minister in 2001.

Abu Zuhri also warned that the Palestinian people "would not stand with folded hands in face of the Israeli crime." The Hamas spokesman also urged the international community to end silence over the Israeli prison raid.

Earlier in the day, Hamas leader in the West Bank Farahat Asad slammed the Israeli military move as a "blatant assault" to the Palestinian sovereignty.

Asad also said that the Israeli operation was aimed at increasing tensions on the Palestinian territories and sabotaging efforts to form a Hamas-led new Palestinian government.

Israeli troops raided the Jericho prison on Tuesday and arrested prominent Palestinian militants jailed there, including Saadat who was leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Israel said the raid came after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said earlier that he would release Saadat. Hamas, which won the January legislative elections, is expected to form a new cabinet within weeks.

Israel has vowed to cut all ties with the Palestinian government once Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, assumes power.