This article was originally published by Ma'an News Agency and is republished with permission.

Israeli settler leaders told the country's media that they intend to violate a construction ban on private homes in West Bank settlements and build in protest of a shooting incident that saw four settlers killed.

Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have carried out the attack, in which two men and two women - one said to have been pregnant - were shot dead near the southern Wast Bank village of Bani Na'im. A statement from the brigades said the attack was a signal to PLO officials that they did not have a mandate to engage in direct peace talks.

The Yesha Council, representing West Bank settlers, sent a statement to the Israeli news site Ynet, saying construction would begin at 6p.m. on Wednesday.

"This attack again proved that despite what might be going on in Washington right now, the Palestinians have no goal to create a peaceful state for themselves but are entirely driven to destroy our State and our people," Naftali Bennett, Yesha director told Israel Radio. "We will start work this evening and build all across Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]."

Attempts to build despite the freeze have been ongoing, however, with Israel's Civil Administration saying three mobile homes were confiscated from settlers intending to install them in the northern West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh on Monday.