The IDF is conducting a search for three missing yeshiva students in the areas near Gush Etzion and Hebron.
3 missing teenagers since last night is a serious event. #IDF mission ongoing in order to establish the circumstances of disappearance.
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) June 13, 2014
Israeli security forces have been scanning the Bethlehem and Hebron area on Friday after three yeshiva students, age 17-19, went missing last night. Police was also checking whether there was a connection between a burnt car that was discovered near Hebron and the disappeared teens. The Shin Bet and the IDF’s Central Command are treating the teens’ disappearance as a kidnapping by terrorists, because, among other things, their cell phones stopped broadcasting location signals at the same location they were last seen…
The Times of Israel adds that the teens, who have not been heard from since 10:00 pm Thursday evening, were students in a yeshiva located in Gush Etion (Etzion Bloc):
Palestinian Islamists have repeatedly called to kidnap Israelis, including to use them as bargaining chips to extract the release of Palestinian security prisoners.
Earlier Friday, Palestinian media reported a firefight between Israeli military forces and Palestinian gunmen in the South Hebron Hills region. According to a report in the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, large IDF forces raided the village of Yatta in the Hebron region and searched houses there. The military had set up road blocks in the area
In fact, on Friday the Times of Israel reported that a Palestinian Islamic Jihad official called for kidnapping more Israelis.
Israel holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for the well being of the 3 missing Israeli teens 2/2
— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) June 13, 2014
As the peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel faltered, Hamas announced that its priority is to kidnap soldiers. Subsequently Fatah, the dominant party in the Palestinian Authority, concluded a unity deal with Hamas. The controversial deal puts the Palestinian Authority in violation of twenty years of treaties if it doesn’t bring Hamas under control.
Last week Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, announced that it had broken up 11 kidnapping plots, a significant rise in such attempts, since September of last year.
Right now on #Hamas TV: youth hurling rocks on #IDF vehicles searching for 3 teenagers, possibly abducted in West Bank.
— Avital Leibovich (@AvitalLeibovich) June 13, 2014
[Photo: idfnadesk / YouTube ]