Israel: Hamas 'will pay price' after teenagers found dead

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.The strikes came in response to 18 rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza since Sunday night, the Israeli military said.Israeli troops also flooded into the Palestinian town of Halhul. The bodies were found in a pit near the town.Israel named two suspects as Ayoub al-Kawasma and Abu Aisheh. The Israeli military said it set off explosives while raiding the homes of both.Pictures showed extensive damage at the home of Abu Aisheh.One Palestinian was also shot dead after throwing an explosive device at Israeli forces carrying out an operation in the West Bank town of Jenin early on Tuesday, the Israeli military said.Hamas said Israel was using the abductions "story" to justify a war on Palestinians.Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that if Israeli forces "carry out an escalation or a war, they will open the gates of hell on themselves".'Action not words'The deaths of the students, who were last seen at a junction near Hebron in the West Bank as they hitchhiked home, has sparked international condemnation.Israeli security forces have set up blockades and closed down whole areas around Halhul, a few kilometres from where the teenagers were last seen.Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett wrote on Facebook: "Murderers of children and those who direct them cannot be forgiven. Now is a time for actions, not words."The teenagers' funerals, likely to take place shortly, will be the focus of intense grief and national anger, says the BBC's Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly.Late on Monday, rockets were launched from Gaza into south Israel. Israel then began air strikes against militant sites in the Gaza Strip.The ministry of health in Gaza said at least four people were wounded when an air strike hit a police station in central Gaza.Hamas and Islamic Jihad training facilities were also targeted, local sources said.Air strikes on electricity stations also caused widespread blackouts.A BBC reporter in Gaza says that Hamas denies carrying out the rocket attacks.'We wanted peace'Israel's Deputy Defence Minister, Dan Danon, told the BBC that Hamas "must pay a price"."We have to say it very clear if you kill innocent children on the way back from school, you cannot continue to work with us as usual," he said.Hamas has denied being behind the teenagers' abductions or deaths.Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused Israel of "trying to take advantage" of the situation "to open war against our people". He warned that Israel would "pay a price" for any "aggression".Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called an emergency meeting of the Palestinian leadership.His spokesman Abdallah Abdallah expressed "regret" for the deaths. "We wanted peace to be created in this part of the world so no mother or no family will be bereaved for the loss of their beloved ones, Palestinian or Israeli."The disappearance of the teenagers on 12 June sparked a huge search operation in Palestinian towns and cities across the West Bank.More than 400 Palestinians were arrested, while five were killed in fighting with Israeli troops.Mr Netanyahu has said the incident is a consequence of "the partnership" between Hamas and the Fatah movement of Mr Abbas.The two signed a reconciliation deal in April after years of division and formed a unity government last month.(BBC)Bakudaily.az