Hamas claims deadliest attack in Israel in 2 years

By Adam Entous and Joseph Nasr

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hamas claimed responsibility on Friday for shooting eight students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, the most lethal Palestinian attack on Israelis in two years and a blow to international efforts to revive peace talks.

The Islamists, who also claimed a suicide bombing a month ago, had vowed to hit back after an Israeli offensive on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip killed more than 120 people in recent days.

A lone gunman killed the young men on Thursday at the Merkaz Harav religious college. But the Israeli government said it would keep talking with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas's secular rival in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Washington, sponsor of a peace process already buffeted by the killing of dozens of civilians in Israel's latest Gaza offensive, said the fact that the talks were continuing was "the most important thing".

Some mourners at funerals for the dead, who were studying at a bastion of the Jewish settler movement in the West Bank, were less positive about the process. And Israel's security minister said hostile Arabs like the dead gunman should be forced out of the mixed city of Jerusalem and sent to live in the West Bank.

"The Hamas movement announces its full responsibility for the Jerusalem operation," a Hamas official told Reuters in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas seized control from Abbas in June. He spoke on condition of anonymity and the group released no official statement.

A spokesman for Hamas's armed wing called the attack "an honor we have not claimed yet". An Israeli official said authorities were still investigating the incident.

The attack and the Hamas claim prompted celebrations in Gaza. A White House spokesman called that "fairly disgusting".

Israel imposed a security clampdown on Jerusalem as thousands attended funerals for the eight victims, aged 15 to 26. Police set up roadblocks and troops tightened limits on Palestinian travel from the West Bank into Israel.

Gunman Ala Abu Dhaim, whose family in East Jerusalem said he once worked as a driver for the college, was shot dead after opening fire with an automatic rifle at students in the library.

Hamas flags and banners of other Islamist groups flew at the home of the gunman, identified by neighbours as Ala Abu Dhaim, in his early 20s, after what proved to be a suicide mission.

"BARBARIC"

Israeli President Shimon Peres denounced the attack as "barbaric" because the students had "nothing to do with war".

The shooting could further complicate U.S.-backed peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas. The latter suspended the process after Israel's attacks in Gaza but promised visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week that he would return to the negotiations in due course.

Hamas's claim may also undermine tentative talks undertaken this week by Egypt, and encouraged by Washington, to foster a truce between the group and Israel.