ARABS-ISRAEL - July 31 - Eight Palestinians Killed In Nablus.

Israeli helicopter gunships fire missiles into the Hamas office in Nablus at 2 p.m., killing two top Hamas leaders, Jamal Mansour and Jamal Salim, a Palestinian journalist Mohammed Bitawi, 25, Mansour's two bodyguards, a Hamas militant Fahim Dawabshe, 31, and two children, 10-year-old Bilal Abu Khadr and his 7-year-old brother, waiting on the sidewalk for their mother to emerge from a medical clinic. (The two Hamas leaders were by far the most senior of the several dozen activists who have been assassinated by Israel in 10 months of fighting. Their assassination marks a shift in policy for Israel. Since last autumn, most of the targets have been suspected armed activists, many of them living clandestine lives. By contrast, Mansour and Salim, heavy-set men in their 40s, were prominent West Bank political figures with a formidable Islamic constituency. Although they had been jailed in the past by Israel and by the PA, both men led exceptionally public lives). Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin says Israel has crossed "a red line", adding: "The people of Israel should know they will pay a heavy price, and that our blood is not cheap". PM Sharon's office expresses regret for the deaths of the two children and says the Hamas leaders "perpetrated terrorist attacks in the past, and were in the process of planning further terrorist attacks". Israeli official statement faxed to foreign correspondents in Jerusalem says Mansour has "led the implementation of the terrorist attacks policy" of Hamas. "He gave the direction, defined the targets and the method, created the required organisational infrastructure, and sent the Hamas militant operatives" on bombing missions. Israeli Public Security Minister Uzi Landau says: "I want to see non-stop attacks and I want Arafat to feel pressure". On Aug. 1, thousands of Palestinians joined the funeral procession. They marched through the streets of Nablus crying for revenge. Masked gunmen fired volleys from assault weapons into the air and small boys waved Hamas flags and brandished toy rifles. In another violence, two Palestinians, a policeman and an Islamic Jihad militant, were killed in the Gaza Strip on July 31. A Palestinian was killed in Hebron on Aug. 1.