An attack in Jerusalem early Wednesday afternoon which left three Israelis dead and 40 injured was "the natural result" of Israeli aggression if the motives of the perpetrator were political, Hamas said.
Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas did not have information on the reasons why an East Jerusalem Palestinian went on the rampage in a tractor on one of Jerusalem's main thoroughfares, plowing into cars and a bus and leaving a 500-metre trail of destruction, reported dpa.
But he said, if the motives were linked to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, "then it will be a natural result of the continuation of the Israeli aggression against our people in West Bank and Gaza Strip."
The driver of the tractor, was shot dead after he had left a trial of destruction over 500 metres.
Another Palestinian militant group, the radical Islamic Jihad, also justified the attack.
"The enemy has to expect more attacks if it keeps the occupation and the aggression against our land and people," the movement said in a statement.
Israel and the Gazan militant groups entered into a ceasefire on June 19, whereby the militants will cease their almost daily rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns and villages, and Israel will halts its attacks on and in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The truce does not cover the West Bank.
"If the occupation (Israel) thought that the Gaza lull will enable it to move freely in West Bank, we say this is illusion," the Islamic Jihad statement added.
It was not initially clear of the perpetrator of Wednesday;s attack belonged to any Palestinian militant group, or whether he acted alone.
A shadowy group calling itself the Imad Mughniyah Brigades of the Free Galilee claimed responsibility for the attack.
The claim could not be immediately confirmed and the group has in the past claimed responsibility for attacks other groups had carried out.