News
Hamas leader Mashaal applauds kidnapping of three Israeli teens
Hamas’s political chief Khaled Mashaal on Monday praised the kidnapping of three Israeli youngsters but claimed that his organisation had no information on their whereabouts.
Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel, both 16, were abducted 11 days ago while hitchhiking in the West Bank. Israel’s government holds Hamas responsible for the kidnappings and earlier this week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet, “We have unequivocal proof” of Hamas’s culpability, which is being shared “with several countries.” Israel’s operation to locate the missing teenagers has especially targeted Hamas activists, with arrests made across the West Bank, especially in the Hebron area.
In his first public comments on the abduction yesterday, Mashaal told a Hamas-affiliated website that, “If indeed there was a capture, those who did it must be saluted.” He added that, “We don’t have any information” on what he called “the missing three soldier-settlers.”
The Israeli operation itself appeared set to enter a new phase. A senior military officer told the Israeli media that although the large-scale search for the kidnapped teenagers will continue unabated, the scope of arrests may be reduced, with around 360 suspects already apprehended, 250 of them Hamas members. Ynet quotes the same source, saying, “The IDF will have exhausted search operations in Hebron area within two or three days.” Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon visited Hebron yesterday to receive updates on the operation, which he described as the “defence establishment’s primary task.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary William Hague yesterday released a further statement on the situation, saying, “I remain deeply concerned by the abduction of three Israeli youths in the West Bank. I appeal to those who are able to bring about the release of the Israeli youths to take urgent action to do so.” However, he also said he was “deeply concerned to hear of the death of two Palestinians in the West Bank over the weekend” during the Israeli operation, calling for both sides to avoid further exacerbating tensions.