On Aug. 31, Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting attack in the West Bank in which four Jews were killed, Middle East Newsline reported. The attack on an Israeli vehicle, in which all four passengers were killed, took place near the southern city of Hebron.

"Undoubtedly, we are talking about a very difficult occurrence," Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said.

The attack, one of the bloodiest by Hamas in 2010, took place amid a PA crackdown on the Islamic opposition in the West Bank. PA security forces, including police, the Preventive Security Apparatus and General Intelligence, have arrested scores of Islamists over the last 10 days.

On Aug. 27, PA security forces, many of them in plain clothes, raided a Hamas mosque in the southern West Bank town of Dura. The PA force stopped a sermon by Palestinian Legislative Council member Nayef Rajoub, regarded as a leading Hamas cleric, and arrested 45 people.

"This is Hamas's way of paying back the PA," the Israeli officer said. "They [Hamas] attack us, embarrass [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas without getting involved in an armed confrontation with the PA."

The Israeli sources said Central Command expected Hamas attacks to continue amid direct talks between Israel and the PA. They said Hamas has been recruiting and training young Muslims for operations against Israeli civilians and soldiers, particularly in the Hebron area.

The Hamas offensive was believed to have been facilitated through quiet cooperation with PA security officers, the sources said. They said local PA security commanders or officers have been co-opted by Hamas through cash and other incentives.

"It is convenient to blame Hamas for these attacks, but there are other elements, including those in the PA, involved," an Israeli military source said.

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