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Israeli forces kill two Hamas members suspected in kidnap, killing of three teens Israeli forces kill two Hamas members suspected in kidnapping, killing of 3 teens
(about 9 hours later)
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces early Tuesday shot and killed two Hamas operatives suspected of kidnapping and killing three Israeli teenagers this summer. HEBRON, West Bank — Israeli forces on Tuesday shot and killed two Hamas operatives suspected of kidnapping and killing three Israeli teenagers this summer.
The abduction of the three students, and the Israeli military’s sweep and mass arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank that followed, was part of a series of events that led to the 50-day war in Gaza. The abduction of the three Jewish students in the West Bank, and the Israeli military’s mass arrests of Hamas members that followed, was part of a cascade of events that eventually led to the 50-day war in Gaza, one of the bloodiest in years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said the two suspects were surrounded by Israeli forces at a workshop in Hebron, where they were hiding. He said that there was a brief exchange of gunfire and that Marwan Kawasmeh, 29, and Amer Abu Aisha, 32, were killed as they emerged from the building. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said the two suspects were surrounded by Israeli forces at a carpentry workshop in Hebron, where they had been hiding for a week. He said that there was an exchange of gunfire and that Marwan Kawasmeh, 29, and Amer Abu Aisha, 32, were killed as they emerged from the building.
Lerner said that the two Palestinians had been hiding in the structure for about a week and that military intelligence indicated they were armed. A neighboring shopkeeper said Israeli special forces units arrived about 3 a.m. and began an assault on the building, which was charred with smoke from a raging fire. The merchant said one of the suspects was fatally shot in the street and the other found dead and burned in the basement.
“We went in understanding that they intended to fight and they came out with guns blazing,” said Lerner, describing how the army used a digger machine to penetrate the outside of the structure, which was two floors high. “We went in understanding that they intended to fight, and they came out with guns blazing,” Lerner said.
As the army broke through the concrete, the two men came out shooting, and one of the fugitives was killed on the spot, he said. The second man ran back inside the building, apparently wounded, and the special forces threw in grenades. The second man ran back inside the building, apparently wounded, and the Israelis threw in grenades, Lerner said, igniting a fire.
Brig. Gen. Avi Yedai, the head of the Israeli military in the West Bank, told Israel Radio that the kidnappers had been given a chance to surrender. Brig. Gen. Avi Yedai, head of the Israeli military in the West Bank, told Israel Radio that the kidnappers had been given a chance to surrender.
A Hamas spokesman in Qatar confirmed the deaths of their members after “a journey of self sacrifice.” Omar Kawasmeh, father of one of the dead men, complained that his son’s body was “covered with bullet wounds.” Asked whether his son was responsible for killing the three Jewish teens, he changed the subject and did not respond.
Salah Bardawil, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the group “mourns the two martyrs . . . who were murdered by the Zionists this morning.” “Even if they are guilty of something, arrest them, don’t shoot them,” he said.
The spokesman said the deaths of the two Palestinian suspects would not have taken place without the security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Kamel Hmeid, governor of Hebron, told Voice of Palestine radio that the two men had been “executed” by Israel.
“We call on the Palestinian people in the West Bank to express their anger in the face of the Zionist occupation and the security coordination,” Bardawil said. Salah Bardawil, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the group “mourns the two martyrs . . . who were murdered by the Zionists.”
Naftali Fraenkel and Gilad Shaar, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19, were abducted June 12 while hitchhiking home from their religious schools in the West Bank. The abductions and search for the youths dominated Israeli domestic news for weeks. He said the deaths of the two Palestinians would not have happened without help from Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank, which Hamas deplores as collaborating with the enemy.
After an 18-day search, their bodies were found buried under rubble in a field not far from where they were kidnapped. Israeli police say they probably were shot to death within minutes of being bundled into a stolen car. One of the teenagers managed to make a quick, furtive call to an emergency line saying he had been kidnapped. The call was initially believed to be a prank and there was no follow-up until the parents of one of the teenagers called police to say their son was missing. Naftali Fraenkel and Gilad Shaar, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19, were abducted June 12 while hitchhiking home from their religious schools in the West Bank.
Soon after the kidnapping, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed “Hamas members” for the abductions, although he initially declined to elaborate. After an 18-day search, their bodies were found buried under rubble in a field not far from where they were kidnapped. Israeli police say they probably were shot within minutes of being bundled into a stolen car.
After the kidnapping, Israeli forces conducted “Operation Brother’s Keeper.” Israeli police and soldiers set up checkpoints around Hebron, conducted thousands of house-to-house searches and arrested more than 350 Palestinians, including several top political leaders of Hamas. One of the teenagers managed to make a quick, furtive call to an emergency line saying he had been kidnapped. The call was initially believed to be a prank.
Palestinians, saying they were being subjected to “collective punishment,” reacted to the military sweep with demonstrations and violent clashes. Several Palestinians, including teens, were killed by Israeli forces. After the kidnapping, Israeli forces conducted thousands of house-to-house searches and arrested more than 350 Palestinians, including top political leaders from Hamas and former Hamas prisoners who had been released in a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier.
While Israeli forces searched for the missing students, police said, an Israeli eyeglass shop owner and two young relatives began driving around Arab neighborhoods in the Jerusalem area “hunting” for a Palestinian to kill in revenge. Palestinians, saying they were being subjected to “collective punishment,” reacted with demonstrations and violent clashes. Several Palestinians, including teenagers, were killed by Israeli forces.
Eventually, they kidnapped Mohammad Abu Khieder, 17. He was on his way to dawn prayers at the mosque. The Palestinian teenager was beaten by the suspects and burned alive in the Jerusalem forest. While Israeli forces searched for the missing students, police said, an Israeli eyeglass shop owner and two young relatives kidnapped Mohammad Abu Khieder, 17, from his East Jerusalem neighborhood, then beat and burned him alive in a revenge killing.
After the bodies of the Israeli teenagers were found, Saleh Arouri, a senior leader of the Hamas movement, said at a conference in Turkey that the Hamas military wing was behind the “heroic event.” After the bodies of the Israeli teenagers were found, Saleh Arouri, a senior leader of Hamas, boasted at a conference in Turkey that the group’s military wing was behind the “heroic action.”
“It was an operation by your brothers from the al-Qassam Brigades,” Arouri said, adding that Hamas hoped to use the Israeli teens in a trade for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.“It was an operation by your brothers from the al-Qassam Brigades,” Arouri said, adding that Hamas hoped to use the Israeli teens in a trade for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Another Hamas member, Hussam Kawasmeh, Marwan’s uncle, was charged by the Israelis in September with organizing and funding the kidnapping, and later hiding the two suspects in a mosque. Another Hamas member, Hussam Kawasmeh, Marwan Kawasmeh’s uncle, was charged by the Israelis in September with organizing and funding the kidnapping.
On Tuesday after news broke that the suspects were dead, Israeli news media reported that the case “has been closed.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the parents of the Israeli teens and later said: “Nothing can assuage their pain and nothing can bring back their wonderful, dear boys. But I told them that justice has been done and that we had carried out the mission that we promised to them and all of Israel.”
Netanyahu said, “I spoke with the teens’ parents a short while ago and told them that nothing will ease their pain and bring back their boys, but there is also the account of justice we performed, the action that we promised.” Shmuel Cohen, grandfather of Shaar, one of the Israeli teens, told Israeli media that “this has a lot of meaning. The world needs to know that Jewish blood is not abandoned, and whoever harms a Jew has his blood on his hands.”
Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the army chief of staff, said that “Operation Brother’s Keeper, which began on June 13, 2014, and has continued with determination this entire time, has come to an end.”
Shmuel Cohen, the grandfather of Shaar, one of the Israeli teens, told Israeli media Tuesday morning that “this has a lot of meaning. The world needs to know that Jewish blood is not abandoned, and whoever harms a Jew has his blood on his hands.”
In reaction to the mass arrests and re-arrests of it members in the West Bank, Hamas began to fire rockets at Israel in early July. Israel warned Hamas that it would retaliate and soon began Operation Protective Edge, the intensive aerial and artillery bombardment and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, including 500 children, according to UNICEF.
Hazem Balousha in Gaza City contributed to this report.Hazem Balousha in Gaza City contributed to this report.