The father of Palestinian militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh holds up a family photo showing his son, centre, at their home in the Jebaliya refugee camp of northern Gaza Strip. (Hatem Moussa/Associated Press)

Hamas claimed Friday that Israeli agents assassinated one of the Palestinian militant group's veteran operatives last week in the Persian Gulf city of Dubai, and Hamas vowed to retaliate.

The group blamed Israel for the slaying of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh but offered no evidence of foul play or Israeli involvement in the man's death. Israel's government had no immediate comment.

Izzat Rashaq, a top member of Hamas's exiled leadership in Damascus, told The Associated Press that details have not been released to avoid compromising an ongoing investigation, and that Hamas's delayed announcement was linked to an attempt to "reach the Israeli agents who implemented this operation."

Al-Mabhouh lived in Syria and was passing through Dubai when he was killed late Jan. 19 or early Jan. 20, Rashaq said. Originally from the Gaza Strip, al-Mabhouh was married and had four children, he said.

"We in Hamas hold the Zionist enemy responsible for the criminal assassination of our brother, and we pledge to God and to the blood of the martyrs and to our people to continue his path of jihad and martyrdom," read the statement on Hamas's Palestinian Information Centre website. The group pledged to "retaliate for this Zionist crime at the appropriate time and place."

Al-Mabhouh will be buried Friday at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, near Damascus, the statement said.

The Hamas statement identified al-Mabhouh as one of the founders of Hamas's military organization, which has been responsible for hundreds of deadly attacks and suicide bombings targeting Israelis since the 1980s. He was 50 years old.

It said al-Mabhouh was involved in the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in 1989 and he was still playing a "continuous role in supporting his brothers in the resistance inside the occupied homeland" at the time of his death.