JERUSALEM – The Israeli army believes that Al Qaeda carried out three car bombings in Egypt last week that killed at least 34 people, Israel’s military chief said yesterday.

Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon told Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the latest assessment from army intelligence is that “the international jihad” carried out the attacks in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, participants in the meeting said. The participants said General Yaalon was referring to Al Qaeda.

The attacks occurred at sites popular with Israeli tourists, and at least 13 Israelis were among the dead.

The Jerusalem Post reported that General Yaalon told the committee that Al Qaeda “tried to get into Israel” to carry out a terror attack, but the plot was foiled. General Yaalon also said the army believes that the planning leading up to the Sinai attacks took about one-and-a-half to two years. The newspaper also reported that General Yaalon said the target of the Sinai attacks was not only Israelis, but also a regime that cooperates with Israel and America.

Egypt has not said who it believes was behind the Sinai attacks. Its investigators have been questioning dozens of Bedouin tribesmen detained after the attacks.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sharon renewed efforts yesterday to expand his embattled coalition government, declaring the current political deadlock untenable after his Gaza pullout plan suffered an embarrassing blow in Parliament.

Mr. Sharon dispatched Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz to meet with the spiritual leader of Shas, a religious opposition party that has so far withheld support for the Gaza plan.

It was the first of many feelers Mr. Sharon is expected to put out in the coming days as he tries to shore up his government, which has lost its parliamentary majority due to opposition to the pullout.

Mr. Sharon wants to pull all Israeli troops and settlers out of Gaza next year but faces growing opposition by his traditional hard-line allies in Parliament.

At Monday’s opening of its winter session, lawmakers rejected Mr. Sharon’s state-of-the-nation policy speech, in which he defended his Gaza plan. The vote was symbolic, but reflected the significant opposition he faces. Roughly a quarter of lawmakers from Mr. Sharon’s Likud Party voted against the speech. Over the heckling of hard-line lawmakers, Mr. Sharon said he would present the pullout plan for approval October 25 and then would bring a bill for compensating the 8,500 settlers to be evacuated.

Israeli officials and analysts said Monday’s vote would force Mr. Sharon to court opposition parties or call early parliamentary elections. The next elections are scheduled for 2006. Mr. Sharon said yesterday he wants to avoid elections.

“The current political situation can’t continue, but I will do everything to prevent early elections,” he said at a meeting with Justice Minister Joseph Lapid.

Mr. Mofaz, a close confidant of Mr. Sharon, met yesterday with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Shas’s spiritual leader, and other party officials, in a bid to persuade the Orthodox party to support the Gaza plan. The two sides did not reach an agreement, but talks are expected to continue.

Political officials said Mr. Sharon would also hold meetings with Labor, the main opposition party, and other religious parties. Dalia Itzik, a senior Labor lawmaker, said the party’s 21 lawmakers will support Mr. Sharon when he brings the Gaza plan to a vote. She also said the party would be willing to join the government to avoid new elections.

“If we see that he won’t have a government without us, we’ll help him,” she said in an interview.

Mr. Sharon’s options are limited. Likud has voted against adding Labor to the government, while bringing in religious parties would alienate the secular Shinui, now Mr. Sharon’s main coalition partner. Mr. Sharon plans to dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four small enclaves in the West Bank in an evacuation that would begin next summer.

Separately, a top Palestinian Arab security leader who is a relative of Yasser Arafat yesterday escaped unharmed when a booby-trapped car exploded near his convoy in Gaza City.

The bomb rocked Gaza City after nightfall, as Moussa Arafat’s convoy was leaving his headquarters. He was not hurt, security officials said. As the convoy sped off, Moussa Arafat’s bodyguards fired submachine guns in the air. Security officials said none of the bodyguards was hurt.

Israel’s military denied involvement. It appeared more likely that local opponents were responsible, though no one claimed the attack. Palestinian Arab riots torpedoed Yasser Arafat’s attempt to appoint his relative as head of Gaza security in July.