Israeli security forces have found the bodies of three missing teenagers in the occupied West Bank after a nearly three-week search.
The three went missing on 12 June near a settlement in the occupied West Bank.
The bodies of Gil-Ad Shaer and US-Israeli national Naftali Fraenkel, both 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, were found in a field near Hebron, a militant stronghold and the hometown of two Hamas members identified by Israel as the kidnappers and still at large, security officials said.
Israeli soldiers at the village of Halhul, near Hebron, where the bodies were found. Photo: AFP
The teens had apparently been shot soon after having been abducted while hitchhiking, officials said
"They were under a pile of rocks, in an open field," said Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, a military spokesman.
Israeli media said the break in the case came after the relatives of the alleged abductors were interrogated. A large number of troops gathered at the spot - in the general area where the teenagers disappeared - to recover the bodies.
In tandem with the search over the past 18 days, Israeli forces have raided Palestinian towns and villages, detaining Hamas activists and closing the group's institutions, Reuters reports.
Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned his security cabinet for a special session that could decide on stronger military moves against Hamas.
Since the start of the Israeli operation, some 40 rockets have been fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip, the military said.
