The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday criticized Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi and urged Israel to unconditionally withdraw from all the occupied Arab territories.

"The murder of Rantisi -- and Sharon's claims that Israel will continue to kill Hamas leaders -- have driven again the Mideast situation to an irrevocably grave crisis," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a commentary.

The commentary said Israel was openly resorting to the most base of means to totally destroy Hamas under the pretext of the US-led "anti-terrorist" war.

KCNA said: "Israel's organizing of a man-hunt operation to destroy Hamas by order of the state is intolerable."

"All facts clearly prove that the US-loudmouth 'anti-terrorist'war, accompanied by Israel, is only sparking an evil cycle of terrorism. The United States is the real originator of terrorism,"said the KCNA.

Rantisi died of serious wounds on April 17 after Israeli armed forces blew up his car in Gaza City. The assassination came less than a month after Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, was killed in an Israeli missile attack on March 22.

Source: Xinhua