A series of terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Thursday left at least seven Israelis dead and several dozen others wounded.

A wounded is brought to Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva, following the triple terrorist attacks that took place in the north of Eilat, southern Israel, Aug. 18, 2011. In a string of attacks on a civilian bus, a military patrol and a private vehicle in southern Israel on midday Thursday, militants killed seven Israelis and wounded dozens others, local media reported. (Xinhua/Jini)

"This terror attack originated from Gaza. We will exhaust all measures against the terrorists," Barak added.

Despite Barak's assertive remarks on the origin of the attack, analysts speaking to Xinhua said that it was too early to say who was behind the attacks or its point of origin.

When Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down earlier this year, there was great concern in Israel that border with Egypt that has been quiet since the peace agreement three decades ago would come to demand more military attention.

When Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement in 1979, it was agreed that Israel would withdraw its forces from the Sinai Peninsula and return it to Egypt. In exchange, the Sinai would be a demilitarized zone with only a limited number of Egyptian soldiers posted there.

Dr. Ephraim Kam, of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told Xinhua that at this time it was impossible to know who was behind the attacks, and whether they were carried out by Hamas operatives from the Gaza Strip, or if they belonged to a Sinai-based al-Qaida associated group.

However, if the Israeli army were to succeed in capturing any of the attackers alive, the situation might become clearer, Kam said.

Taher Al-Nounou, spokesman for the Hamas government, on Thursday denied the Israeli reports that assailants who carried out the attacks near the Israeli city of Eilat came from the strip.

Kam argued that the scope and coordination that is necessary to carry out three separate attacks at several locations, indicating that there was an organization behind them and that they were not the act of a lone perpetrator.

In January 2010, the Israeli government approved the construction of a 400 million shekel fence along the Egyptian border. At the time, the main purpose of the new fence was to stop the infiltration of African refugees from Egypt.

The barrier was to have been of a simpler type than the security fences along Israeli border with Gaza, which includes walled sections and observation points.

While there might be calls for an upgrade of the planned fence, Kam said he wasn't sure that it was the best approach, and proposed increased coordination with the Egyptians. Instead, he contended, it's not in their interest if attacks like these took place.

He added that "in the last two to three weeks, the Egyptian army has been conducting a large operation in the Sinai Peninsula to clean out al-Qaida operatives."

The Egyptian army's deployment was done in coordination with Israel, in accordance with the peace agreement.

While Dr. Mordechai Kedar, of Bar-Ilan University, told Xinhua that what happened on Thursday was the result of a longer process, and could have happened while Mubarak was still in power, as well.

"For years, even when Mubarak was in power, the Sinai was outside the control of the Egyptian regime. For years already, the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai could do whatever they wanted regardless of what the regime wanted," Kedar said.

He added that Israel had warned Egypt about this situation for years, and that "in the last six months the Egyptians actually lost control of Sinai totally."

Kedar didn't foresee any increased cooperation with Cairo as Kam did, and believes that the Egyptian forces in Sinai are too weak to have any impact and "the regime has no willingness to take care of Sinai."

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet