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JERUSALEM — Roadblocks and other new security measures, which caused traffic jams throughout Israel this week, are likely to remain in force until the end of the month.

The new efforts came in the aftermath of an Israeli raid on an explosives-laden Hamas hideout in Taibe, an Arab town northeast of Tel Aviv, on March 2. Four of the cell members were killed and another one captured. A sixth man apparently escaped.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak said the actions of the Israeli commandos prevented a major terrorist attack aimed at sabotaging the already faltering peace process.

Before dawn on March 2, the Israeli commandos surrounded the two-story hideout. When they ordered the militants to come out, one emerged and was taken into custody.

Then another two emerged: one wielding a pistol, the other carrying a suitcase filled with explosives. The pistol-carrying Palestinian opened fire, and the Israeli forces returned fire.

In the exchange, the suitcase blew up, killing both militants.

A member of the Israeli squad lost his foot in the explosion.

Immediately after the shootout, the commandos sent a bomb-sniffing dog inside the building. It died almost immediately in an explosion. At midday, the commandos found the body of another militant inside.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency told the cabinet Sunday that the Hamas cell had been planning five simultaneous suicide attacks.

Police Insp.-Gen. Yehuda Wilk said Sunday that the security forces had managed to cut off one terrorist cell, but not others.

"I believe Hamas will continue to try to carry out attacks at one level or another," he said. "There are people who are prepared to carry out suicide attacks, and there's a capability to manufacture explosive devices, and the combination of the two constitutes the potential for a terror attack."

Police and the security forces are working on the assumption that attempted terror attacks are likely, especially in light of the upcoming visit by Pope John Paul II and Purim later this month.

Roadblocks and security checks were set up on main routes and at entrances to Tel Aviv, other parts of central Israel, Jerusalem and Haifa.

Meanwhile, security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority following the Taibe incident has created a better atmosphere, which may help break the deadlock in peace negotiations.

Palestinian security officers said they are cooperating with Israel in the search of the sixth Hamas member, who is believed to be on the run in the West Bank. They also confirmed that they are cooperating with Israel in the investigation.

Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, welcomed statements by Israeli ministers giving the Palestinian Authority credit for doing their part in preventing terror attacks.

Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin told the Associated Press that the Palestinian police arrested two of his bodyguards this week. Another six members of Hamas' youth movement were also arrested.

Yassin accused Israel of grandstanding, saying he had nothing to do with the Taibe affair and has no connection with the military wing of Hamas, Izzadin Kassam.

"Those people want to show that they have found evidence and a big story, and they want to give the Israeli people the feeling that they are taking care of Israeli security," he said.

He acknowledged, however, that two of the dead named by the Israeli media — Nael Abu Awad and Ali Hassanein — were Hamas members.