What is sure right now is that Dubai police have good camcorder

But what else they can do?

Most of the 26 people so far linked to the murder of a top Hamas commander are to be found in Israel, Agence France-Presse cited Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan as charging in comments published on Saturday.

Khalfan also again pointed the finger at Meir Dagan, the head of Israel’s secret service Mossad which is widely suspected of carrying out the Cold War-style hit on Mahmoud Mabhuh in his Dubai hotel room on January 20

Dubai police have published details of 26 suspects together with passport photographs and said on Friday they have DNA proof of the identity at least one of the killers.

“What is sure right now is that the majority of the murderers whose names have been announced... are to be found in Israel,” Khalfan said in comments published in Arabic-language Al Khaleej daily.

“Dagan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will head the list [of an international arrest warrant] if it is proven that Mossad is behind the murder,” the police chief said.

Khalfan was quoted in the government daily Emarat Al Yom as calling on the Mossad chief to come clean.

“Meir Dagan, the boss, should admit the crime... or present a categorical denial that his service is implicated,” he said.

“But his current attitude shows he is afraid. Let him be a man, and tell the truth.”

Israel has sought to play down the row, saying there is no evidence of its involvement. It has rejected the calls for Dagan’s arrest as “baseless” and “absurd”.

The murder of Mabhuh, regarded by Israel as a key link in a weapons smuggling chain into the Gaza Strip that is controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, has mounted international pressure on Israel.

Twelve British, six Irish, four French, one German and three Australian passports were used by the suspects, according to Dubai police.

Khalfan said police had succeeded in identifying the suspects although some had worn wigs during the operation. The suspects were identified by footage from closed circuit televisions, which abound in security-conscious Dubai.

The revelation of stolen identities being used by suspected Israeli agents has caused a diplomatic outcry, with Australia threatening it would “not be silent on the matter”.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Saturday his centre-left government had an “absolutely hard line” on defending the integrity of its passport system and took seriously allegations that suspected Mossad assassins had stolen Australian identities.

“That is why the foreign minister has called in the Israeli ambassador and asked for an explanation,” Rudd told reporters.

“Thus far we are not satisfied with that explanation.”

Canberra summoned ambassador Yuval Rotem on Thursday and warned that friendly ties were at risk if Israel was found to have sponsored or condoned the tampering of three Australian passports, linked to the killing of Mabhuh.

The Israel-based Australians caught in the passport scandal - Joshua Daniel Bruce, Nicole Sandra McCabe and Adam Korman - were among 15 named in connection with the killing of Mabhuh.

The real McCabe, a 27-year-old mother to be who has lived in Israel for two and a half years, said she first learned of her passport’s link to the crime from a radio news bulletin.

“I have no idea how they got hold of my passport. Obviously it’s not my photo,” she told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. “I don’t know any of these people, I don’t know the other Australians.”

“I’m terrified, I haven’t slept and I’m shaky. I’m worried for my health and I’m worried for my baby’s health,” she added.

Israeli ambassadors in four European countries have been summoned for talks and the European Union has also voiced outrage over the use of fake passports after an earlier list of 11 people was released.

The British embassy in Israel said an investigator was flown in this week to interview 10 dual Israeli-British citizens whose British passports may have been used in Mabhuh’s assassination, Reuters reported from Jerusalem.

At least six Britons with the same names as members of the alleged hit team live in Israel and say their identities were stolen.

The investigator will speak to the individuals when they come to the embassy to collect new passports, an embassy spokesman told Reuters. He provided no further details about the British probe.

Israel has officially remained silent on the January 20 assassination, though its foreign minister said there was nothing to link it to the killing.