Hamas Backing Away from Claim of Responsibility for Massacre at Jewish School

I don't think this is an attempt at PR relations at all. Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing had this to say "There may be a later announcement. ... But we don't claim this honor yet,"[emp added]. So if Hamas isn't responsible for this terrorist attack does that mean there is another attack waiting to happen? Fox News

Shortly after Hamas Radio went on the air with the claim of responsibility, sources told FOX News that a few officials within the militant organization were backing away from the boast.

Ibrahim Daher, head of Hamas' al-Aqsa radio, said his station put out an earlier claim of responsibility prematurely.

Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, confirmed the group was not taking responsibility for the attack — at least yet.

"There may be a later announcement. ... But we don't claim this honor yet," he said.

....

It was not immediately clear whether a militant group had orchestrated the shooting.

A Hamas radio presenter earlier had said the group's military wing had "promised a jolting response" to the Israeli offensive, and called on believers to "celebrate this victory against the brutal enemy."

Israel slapped a closure on the West Bank and beefed up security and emergency forces around Jerusalem and other areas in the wake of the shooting, the first major attack in Jerusalem in four years and the deadliest in Israel since a homicide bomber killed 11 people in Tel Aviv on April 17, 2006.