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Bodies of missing teens found

June 30, 2014

Israeli media have reported that the bodies of three Israeli teenagers missing in the West Bank have been found near the city of Hebron. Their abduction sparked a huge manhunt and a crackdown on the Hamas militant group.

https://p.dw.com/p/1CSzE

Israeli security forces on Monday found the bodies of three teenagers who went missing in the West Bank two weeks ago, media reported.

The bodies have been confirmed as being those of the Israeli seminary students, who disappeared on June 12, according to the reports.

Security officials said the bodies were found near the village of Halhul, close to the location where the teens disappeared.

Israel accused the Islamist Hamas movement of being behind the abduction, but Hamas has not commented on the charge.

Massive search

Troops from Israel scoured areas of the West Bank to look for the teenagers, two of them aged 16 and one 19, who went missing near a settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Several Hamas members were arrested following the kidnapping. Armed groups in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has its power base, stepped up rocket attacks on Israel in response, to which Israel retaliated with airstrikes.

Some 40 rockets have been fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip since the teenagers disappeared.

tj/mkg (Reuters, dpa)