Among the arrested included members of the militant group Hamas
A Palestinian family look at Israeli soldiers during a military operation searching for three missing Israeli teenagers, near the West Bank city of Hebron, on Sunday. (Photo: AP)
Jerusalem: Israel's military arrested around 80 Palestinians in the West Bank, including members of the militant group Hamas, early on Sunday as part of efforts to locate three teenagers, including an American, believed abducted in the territory while hitchhiking home.
"Palestinian terrorists will not feel safe, will not be able to hide and will feel the heavy arm of the Israeli military capabilities," spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds the Western-backed Palestinian Authority responsible for the Thursday night disappearance of the teens. The Palestinians' self-rule government, which administers 38 per cent of the West Bank, has rejected blame, saying the teens went missing in territory under full Israeli control.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions were already strained, in part because of the recent formation of a Palestinian unity government that has the backing of the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Hamas, branded a terror group by the West for its long history of attacks on Israeli civilians, has been involved in the kidnapping of Israelis in the past.
The group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks, but has not claimed it captured the teens.
Palestinians have kidnapped Israelis before but this would be the first time three civilians have been taken at the same time.
Israeli media reported that senior Hamas members were among those arrested in the raids.
The military also said its aircraft struck several targets in Gaza overnight in retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said a girl was lightly hurt.
( Source : PTI )
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