US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that President George W. Bush gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon no green light to assassinate Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

"Of course, President Bush did no such thing," Rice told ABC's "This Week".

"We have said repeatedly to the Israelis that while we understand and support Israel's right to defend itself, it is extremely important that Israel take into consideration the consequences of anything that it does," Rice said.

However, Rice admitted that the timing of Israel's assassination was not helpful.

"We had just talked about trying to get the road map under way in the Middle East, trying to get the Gaza disengagement plan underway, then the timing is not helpful," Rice said.

Rantisi was killed late Saturday when an Israeli helicopter fired rockets into his car in Gaza City, less than a month after Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin was killed in a similar attack.

The assassination came just three days after Sharon visited the Untied States and won Bush's endorsement for his unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

The US government has denied on Saturday that it had any kind of advance knowledge of Israel's assassination of Rantisi.

But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said that Israel's assassination of Rantisi was a "direct result of America's encouragement and total bias towards Israel."