Israel vows to punish Hamas, bombs Gaza Strip
Israeli jets pound Gaza as bodies of three abducted students found near Hebron; Hamas has neither denied nor confirmed its involvement
TEL AVIV: Thousands of mourners gathered on Tuesday in an outpouring of national grief for the burial of three Israeli teenagers whose abduction and killing Israel blamed on Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group it vowed to punish. Israel bombed dozens of sites in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, wounding two Palestinians.
MODI’IN: Israel has vowed retribution against Hamas, the militant Palestinian group it says kidnapped and murdered three teenagers in the occupied West Bank.
The bodies of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were found on Monday evening, after they had been missing for more than a fortnight.
Israel PM Benyamin Netanyahu said: “Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay.” Hamas denies any involvement. Israel launched more than 30 air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight.
However, officials said Israel’s security cabinet, which held an emergency session late on Monday and was due to meet again on Tuesday, was split on the scope of any further action in the coastal enclave or in the West Bank. The United States and regional power-broker Egypt urged restraint.
The Israeli daily Haaretz said that Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon had proposed building a new settlement in the West Bank in memory of the teens. Another Cabinet minister, Naftali Bennett, proposed a large-scale military operation in Gaza and to begin using the death penalty against Palestinian militants.
Israel is also reportedly considering the deportation of senior Hamas members from the West Bank to Gaza, where they would face tight travel restrictions and be separated from their families.
The Israeli military said aircraft attacked 34 targets in Gaza, mostly belonging to Hamas. Its statement did not link the strikes to the abductions. The military cited 18 Palestinian rockets launched against Israel from Gaza in the past two days.
Palestinian medics said two people were slightly wounded.
The Islamist group has neither confir med nor denied involvement in the disappearance of the students nor in the cross-border rocket salvoes from Gaza.