Israeli military officials said Monday that dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Hamas militants recently left the Gaza Strip to receive advanced military training in Iran.

The training is similar to that received by thousands of Hezbollah guerrillas from Lebanon over the past few years, and Israel fears it will greatly improve Hamas' military capability in any future battle with Israel Defense Forces troops in Gaza, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

Israel waged a five-month military offensive in the Gaza Strip over the summer, after Hamas militants kidnapped Corporal Gilad Shalit and killed two of his comrades in a cross-border raid.

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More than 300 Palestinians were killed in the fighting,
most of them militants. One IDF soldier was killed, while 120 soldiers fell in the war with the Iranian-trained Hezbollah.

Israel claimed 800 Hezbollah fighters were killed, whereas the militant organization recently claimed that just 250 of its guerillas were killed. Jerusalem accused Iran, whose president has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," of training Hezbollah and using the guerrilla group as a proxy army to attack Israel.

The mass training of Hamas fighters in Iran is a new development reflecting the growing alliance between Shiite Iran and the Sunni Hamas movement, Israel warned.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas returned last week from a visit to Iran, which has already funded the cash-strapped Palestinian government with $120 million and pledged millions more.

Haniyeh met with the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Haniyeh hailed Iran for providing Palestinians with "a strategic depth."

Abu Obayda, a spokesman for Hamas militants, declined to confirm whether the militants were training in Iran.

"But I confirm that we have the right to train inside or outside the country," he said.

Palestinian Interior Minister Said Siyam, of Hamas, said Iran had offered to train between 40 and 50 Palestinian police officers in how to stop drug smuggling and other law enforcement procedures.

"It is the right of the Palestinian government to accept help from whatever quarter it is offered," he said.

According to Israeli military intelligence, Hamas is taking advantage of a lull in violence with Israel, following a cease-fire reached last month, to prepare for a future confrontation. Israel believes that Hamas is modeling itself after Hezbollah.