Israeli official says Iran training Hamas

TEL AVIV — The head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency said Monday that Iran was giving advanced military training to members of Hamas, a move he called a "strategic danger" to the Jewish state.

Yuval Diskin, the director of Shin Bet, said that the militant movement had dispatched "tens" of fighters from the Gaza Strip to Iran for "months, maybe years" of instruction, and that Iran had promised to train hundreds more.

A Hamas spokesman denied the assertion. The training, if confirmed, would mean that Iran is expanding its alliance with Hamas, which Israel and the United States list as a terrorist organization and which has controlled the Palestinian Authority government for nearly a year.

Since Western nations cut off funding to the Palestinian government last spring because of Hamas' ascendance, Iran has given it at least $120 million in aid.

Reports of Iran training Hamas militants, previously attributed to unnamed Israeli and Palestinian officials, have been circulating for weeks. Diskin's remark at a rare briefing for foreign reporters was the first such official claim and echoed a drumbeat of charges by the Bush administration that Iran exports terrorism.

The intelligence chief, a burly man with a shaved head, said Hamas was continuing to stockpile weapons smuggled into the Gaza Strip through Egypt. But he said Hamas' development of arms factories in Gaza and its alleged training in Iran were greater long-term threats to Israel.

Mushir Masri, a Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament, said Diskin was spreading a false allegation about training to undermine Hamas and build a case for renewed attacks in Gaza.

Israel fought a five-month offensive in Gaza last year after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid. Diskin said Hamas was taking advantage of a cease-fire accord reached with Israel last November to prepare for a future military confrontation. The soldier is still being held.

Whether Israel continues to abide by the cease-fire depends on Egypt's ability to stop weapons smuggling into Gaza, Diskin said.

With support from the Bush administration, Israel has tried for months to isolate Hamas politically by strengthening Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement and engaging him in peace talks.