Chief of Israeli military intelligence Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said Tuesday that the Israeli army has recently foiled more than 10 militant attacks planned to be launched from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

The disclosure came during a briefing for the parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Kochavi did not detail the groups who plotted to carry out the attacks or their nature.

Israel's security establishment has voiced concerns about the growing lawlessness in Sinai, a vast desert region that flanks Israel's western border, since the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Eight Israelis, most of them civilians, were killed last August in a combined shooting and bombing attack launched by squads of militants who crossed into the Israeli territory from the Egyptian side of the border. Some six Egyptian soldiers were mistakenly killed by Israeli gunfire in the battles that ensued.

Kochavi said Tuesday that the victory of Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in Egypt's recent presidential election has "ushered in an age of political Islam" that would strengthen Hamas at the expense of the Palestinians' more moderate leadership in the West Bank.