Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of being responsible for the abduction and killing of the three Israeli settlers, adding that Hamas will pay the price, and will keep paying the price, and that the Israeli offensive could be expanded if needed. Thirteen Palestinians have been killed since June 12.
Israeli Ynet News has reported that Netanyahu made his remarks just before a Security Cabinet meeting that was held to discuss Israel’s “retaliatory” measures against the Palestinian people, “in response to the abduction and the killing of the three Israelis”.
Netanyahu said Israel would not stop searching, and will arrest every person deemed “responsible” or connected to the abduction of the Israelis, adding the issue is now Israel’s “first priority”. Two Palestinians have already been placed in Israeli detention and are under interrogation, after having been named as the suspects in the crime. Israeli troops then destroyed the family homes of the two men.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of being responsible for the latest escalation, and said the army needed to strike Hamas first in the occupied West Bank, and then in Gaza.
On Monday at night and on Tuesday at dawn, the Israeli army carried out more than 34 air strikes against different areas in the Gaza Strip.
The army has kidnapped more than 600 Palestinians, including women and children since the settlers went missing on June 12. http://www.imemc.org/article/68294
Israel alleges it kidnapped 419 Palestinians, including what it described as 279 Hamas members.
Meanwhile, the Ahrar Center for Detainees Studies and Human Rights has reported that the number of Palestinians, kidnapped by the army in the same period is 765, including 12 legislators, 2 former government ministers, 58 former detainees, 4 women, and 93 children. Nine Palestinians, including three fishermen have been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip.
As for Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire and shells, since June 12, thirteen Palestinians, including a child have been killed by Israeli army fire and shelling, most of them in the occupied West Bank. In addition, an elderly Palestinian man and an elderly women, died in separate incidents of heart attacks when the army stormed and ransacked their homes. In the same time period, hundreds of Palestinians were injured.
List of Palestinians killed since June 12th:
July 1 – Palestinian Killed By Undercover Israeli Forces In Jenin
http://www.imemc.org/article/68289
June 30 – Palestinian Killed, Two Injured, By Army Missile In Southern Gaza
http://www.imemc.org/article/68277
June 28 – Two Palestinians Killed, Three Injured, As Army Bombards Gaza
http://www.imemc.org/article/68255
June 26 – Elderly Woman Dies After Army Invades Her Home In Hebron
http://www.imemc.org/article/68237
June 25 – Palestinian Dies of Wounds Suffered Last Friday – June 20
http://www.imemc.org/article/68229
June 22 – Palestinian Killed By Army Fire In Nablus
http://www.imemc.org/article/68187
June 22 – PCHR: “Mentally Challenged Man Killed”
http://www.imemc.org/article/68190
June 22 – Palestinian Killed By Army Fire In Ramallah
http://www.imemc.org/article/68189
June 21 – Teen Killed By Israeli Landmine In Jordan Valley
http://www.imemc.org/article/68185
June 20 – Elderly Man Dies In Salfit After Soldiers Invaded His Home
http://www.imemc.org/article/68177
June 20 – Child Killed By Israeli Army Fire Near Hebron
http://www.imemc.org/article/68167
June 16 – Palestinian Killed By Army Fire Near Ramallah
http://www.imemc.org/article/68119
Other related
June 11- Fighter Assassinated, Two Palestinians Injured, By Israeli Missile In Gaza
http://www.imemc.org/article/68078
June 11 Child Killed In An Explosion In Gaza City
http://www.imemc.org/article/68076
