Palestinian Islamic resistance group Hamas will not cease attacks on Israeli targets after the Palestinian elections on Jan. 9, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday citing intelligence officials.

The intelligence officials believe that Hamas will be focusing its strikes on the West Bank and Gaza Strip captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

A senior security source told the daily that Hamas is trying to create the impression that Israel is fleeing the Gaza Strip under fire as Israel prepared to carry out its unilateral disengagement plan including a withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank next year.

Intelligence officials believe Hamas is making its utmost to increase the range of its homemade Qassam rockets, which can currently strike at targets some 10 kilometers away, and their accuracy.

On the other hand, the source said, the militant group may somewhat stop sending suicide bombers into Israel for two reasons -- the great difficulty in dispatching suicide bombers from Gaza, and the fall in the Palestinians' support for suicide attacks in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death, which raised hope for a renewal of peace negotiations with Israel.