The Jerusalem police and Shin Bet security service have arrested 11 Hamas members in East Jerusalem over the past several months and disrupted an attempt by the Islamic group to increase its influence in the disputed city, the Shin Bet announced Monday.

Shin Bet agents broke up Hamas' secret command in Jerusalem, formed to expand the group's power in the city and funded by Hamas leaders abroad through a number of fictitious charity organizations, the covert security agency said in a statement.

In addition to the 11 members of the group arrested in the past several months, Israeli authorities also hold five senior Hamas officials from Jerusalem arrested since 2006, the Shin Bet said.

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The agency said 10 of the men were residents of East Jerusalem, home to the city's Arab population. Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and immediately annexed the area, claiming all of the city as its capital.

The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

The suspects included heads of charities that channeled money to local Hamas operatives from sources outside of the country, the Shin Bet said.

Others were allegedly involved in organizing Hamas activities in Jerusalem. There was no indication that any of the men were involved in militant activity.

According to the Shin Bet statement, Hamas saw its activities in Jerusalem as a way to increase its support and to tap a reservoir of potential military recruits with Jerusalem residency documents. Such documents allow easy entry into Israel, which is far more difficult for a Palestinian from the West Bank.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, denied any connection between Hamas and the Jerusalem charities and said the arrested men are no more than religious preachers.

"Israeli intelligence is attempting to make an illusory security victory," he said.

After Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip last month, Fatah took control of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians split into two political entities and driving the remnants of Hamas' leadership in the West Bank underground.

On Monday, four Hamas leaders, including a lawmaker, were arrested by the Fatah-led government's security forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, according to eyewitnesses and Hamas officials.

No confirmation was immediately available from Palestinian security officials.

IDF troops kill Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade commander in W. Bank
Israel Defense Forces troops killed an Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade commander in a pre-dawn gunbattle in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin early Monday.

Also Monday, defense establishment sources announced that the Shin Bet security service had recently arrested 11 Hamas militants in East Jerusalem.

25-year-old Mohammed Abu al-Heija, a leader of the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the Jenin refugee camp was also the deputy of Zakariya Zubeidi, one of the top commanders of the Fatah-linked armed group.

The incident took place at about 2:00 A.M. in the camp, a longtime focus of Palestinian militancy.

The IDF said soldiers carrying out operations in the camp had come under small-arms fire, and that a bomb was thrown at them. "He had an M-16 (assault rifle) with a telescopic sight," an IDF spokeswoman said of the dead man. "During the incident, an explosive charge was thrown and the Israeli force came under fire."

Al-Heija was considered a close associate of Zubeidi, perhaps the most high-profile wanted Palestinian commander in the West Bank.

Across the West Bank Sunday night, a total of six wanted Palestinians were arrested, among them members of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and Fatah.

Salam Fayad, prime minister in the emergency government that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas formed after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, has said Israeli raids in the West Bank undermine Fatah's intention to disarm gunmen there.