Hamas plotted to kill Israeli foreign minister They were headed by Ibrahim Zir, 37, whom the Shin Bet identified as a senior Hamas activist who had spent time in Israeli prisons. He is said to have been helped by his younger brother, Ziad, 35, and Adnan Sabih, 31. The trio then recruited a fourth man, Yousef al-Sheikh, to procure a RPG launcher. They have been charged in a West Bank military court with conspiracy to cause bodily harm and conspiracy to trade in weapons. The men said they hoped the assassination "would relay a message to the state of Israel that would bring about an end to the Gaza war." More than 2,100 Palestinians and 71 Israelis died in the 50-day conflict. Israel launched a large-scale military offensive, Operation Protective Edge, on July 7, saying it was necessary to stop Hamas rockets being fired at Israeli towns and villages from Gaza, the coastal territory which the Islamist group informally controls. Hamas, which has praised a recent spate of "lone wolf" attacks by Palestinians on Israelis in the past month, neither confirmed nor denied the alleged plot. "We have no information about this issue," said its spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri. However, we stress that leaders of the Occupation (Israel) who are responsible for the killing of children and women and for defiling the sacred sites are legitimate targets for the resistance. Mr Lieberman was one of the most vocal advocates of an extensive military takeover of Gaza, which he said was needed to destroy Hamas. Shin Bet said the plot was evidence that Hamas - which has formed a fragile unity administration with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader - was trying to bolster its presence in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces arrested hundreds of the group's members in the territory in a sweeping crackdown triggered by the abduction and murder of three Jewish teenagers, carried out by three Hamas operatives, outside a settlement near Hebron last June.