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| Rachel and Avi Fraenkel, parents of U.S.-Israeli national Naftali, 16, one of the three Israeli teens who were abducted and killed in the West Bank, mourn as they sit next to Israeli President Shimon Peres during their son'ss joint funeral in the Israeli city of Modiin, Tuesday, July 1, 2014. Tens of thousands of mourners converged Tuesday in central Israel for the funeral service for three teenagers found dead in the West Bank after a two week search and crackdown on the Hamas militant group, which Israeli leaders have accused of abducting and killing the young men. The deaths of Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship, have prompted angry calls for revenge and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security Cabinet for an emergency meeting to discuss a response to the killings, hours after airstrikes targeted dozens of suspected Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip. |
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel's prime minister threatened Tuesday to take even tougher action against Hamas following an intense wave of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, as the country buried three Israeli teens it says were kidnapped and killed by the Islamic militant group.
In
comments broadcast live on national television, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said his first goal is to find the killers of the three teens.
"We will not rest until we reach the last of them," he said.
But
a broader mission is to act against Hamas in its Gaza stronghold, the
Israeli leader said as he convened an emergency meeting of his Security
Cabinet to discuss a response to the deadly abductions.
"Hamas
continues to support, even at this time, the kidnappings of our
citizens and is directly responsible for firing rockets and mortars at
our territory, including in recent hours," Netanyahu said.
"If there is a need, we will broaden the campaign as much as needed."
The
three teenagers - Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali
Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship -
disappeared on the night of June 12 as they were hitchhiking home from
Jewish seminaries they attended in the West Bank.
The
abductions sparked Israel's broadest ground operation in the West Bank
in nearly a decade, with the military deploying thousands of troops in a
frantic search for the youths. Accusing Hamas of being behind the
abductions, it also launched a massive crackdown against the group's
West Bank infrastructure.
The manhunt came to a
grim end on Monday when searchers discovered the teens' bodies under a
pile of rocks in a field near the city of Hebron, a few miles from where
they disappeared.
The plight of the teens
captured the nation's attention, and the discovery of their bodies
prompted an outpouring of grief. An estimated 50,000 mourners attended
Tuesday's funeral in the central Israeli city of Modiin, arriving in
hundreds of buses organized for the occasion.
"This
day has spontaneously turned into a national day of mourning,"
Netanyahu said in his eulogy as the three bodies, wrapped in
blue-and-white Israeli flags and laid out on stretchers were laid to
rest side-by-side.
Earlier, hundreds of people had headed to the teens' hometowns for separate memorial services.
"Rest
in peace my child," said Fraenkel's mother, Rachelle, who became a
well-known figure during the ordeal as she sought to draw attention to
the teens' plight. "We will learn to sing without you. We will always
hear your voice inside of us."
"I don't have a brother anymore," said Gilad Shaar's younger sister, Shirel.
Thousands
of Israelis have died in wars and violence with the country's Arab
neighbors over the years, but these killings struck a nerve, largely
because of the young ages of the victims and the fact that they were
unarmed civilians.
"Today, we are burying a
child who could have been any one of ours and therefore he is one of
ours - all of us," Finance Minister Yair Lapid said at the memorial for
Shaar.
Israel has identified two Hamas
operatives as the chief suspects in the kidnappings. But it has offered
little public evidence against the men, who remain on the loose.
It
also is unclear whether the suspects acted alone or at the instruction
of Hamas leaders. Hamas has praised the kidnappings, but not said
whether it ordered the mission.
Hamas has long
encouraged its members to kidnap Israelis, believing hostages could be
used to win the release of thousands of Palestinian militants held in
Israeli prisons.
Israeli security officials
are not sure whether the kidnappers set out to kill the teens, or did so
in a bout of panic after one of them called police. The officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
talk to the media, said they believe the youths were killed minutes
after the phone call.
Israeli media on Tuesday published a recording of the emergency call.
"They
kidnapped me," a voice, believed to be Shaar, can be heard saying.
Another male voice is then heard, shouting, "head down!" Hotline workers
initially dismissed the call as a hoax, delaying the rescue efforts for
several hours, and several workers have been disciplined for the
mishap.
Channel 10 TV said investigators found
evidence of their deaths in the burnt-out car, including bullet cases,
blood that belonged to the victims and remains of a shirt.
Police
spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said searchers found the bodies after
discovering a sandal and a pair of eyeglasses belonging to the teens
over the weekend. The objects helped rescuers narrow their search and
the bodies were uncovered on Monday, he said.
The
crackdown in the West Bank has been accompanied by a spike in violence
in Gaza. Israel unleashed a wave of airstrikes on Hamas targets
overnight Tuesday in response to repeated rocket fire.
Later
on the day, militants fired five more rockets, including two that
landed in Israel, the army said. In all, 10 rockets were fired into
Israel on Tuesday, it said. The barrage, which caused no damage or
injuries, raised the likelihood of new Israeli reprisals.
Despite
the tough rhetoric, Netanyahu could find himself with limited options.
Hamas has already been greatly weakened by a seven-year crackdown by
Israel and the rival forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Critics said the recent arrest sweeps had found very few high-value
targets.
A broad operation in Gaza would
trigger retaliation by militant groups armed with thousands of rockets.
It is unclear whether Israel has the appetite for a new confrontation,
especially at time of so much turmoil throughout the region. A civil war
is raging in neighboring Syria, and Netanyahu has expressed concerns
that unrest in Iraq could spill over into Jordan, a key Israeli ally and
neighbor.
Israeli defense officials said
Israel was prepared to do whatever was needed to restore quiet. "We will
continue the necessary activity in every area, with all force and scope
necessary," Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the country's military chief, said as
he stood alongside Netanyahu.
While Israel's
allies have condemned the deaths of the teens, there have also been
calls from the U.S., European Union and United Nations to show
restraint.
In Washington, White House
spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. is still seeking details "about who
precisely was responsible for this terrible, terroristic act."
But,
he added, "there is also a responsibility that both sides have to
exercise restraint, to prevent this one terrible act from leading to a
much broader, much more destabilizing situation."
Those calls for restraint were echoed Tuesday by Egypt, which borders Gaza to the south.
Israel
will likely step up pressure on Abbas to terminate the unity government
he formed last week with Hamas' backing to end a seven-year rift with
the group.
