An Israeli military court has sentenced the leader of a Palestinian group to 30 years in prison, despite the fact that he was acquitted earlier of planning the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister in 2001.

Ahmed Saadat is the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or PFLP, who took responsibility for killing Israeli Cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi.

Military source said that Saadat was sentenced to 30 years for other attacks on Thursday.

Supporters of Saadat gathered outside the court to protest his sentence.

"The military court against Ahmed Saadat is not in any way a court of justice; it is a tool of the occupation, it is part of the operation against the Palestinian people, that they want to prevent any kind of resistance and opposition to the occupation."

The sentence dates to when Israel took Saadat from a Palestinian jail in 2006.

Earlier, two members of the group were sentenced to long prison terms for the shooting, but Saadat was acquitted.