Butcher Netanyahu accuses Hamas of abducting israeli settlers

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of kidnapping three Israeli settlers, as Tel Aviv arrests around 80 Palestinians over the issue.

“This morning I can say what I was unable to say yesterday, before the extensive wave of arrests of Hamas members in Judea and Samaria (southern and northern West Bank),” Netanyahu said on Sunday.

“Those who perpetrated the abduction of our youths were members of Hamas – the same Hamas that Abu Mazen (Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas) made a unity government with; this has severe repercussions,” he claimed.

Press TV correspondent in the West Bank city of Ramallah says the Israeli regime has no clue where the missing settlers might be.

Israeli forces have arrested 80 Palestinians, including members of the resistance movement Hamas, as part of a search campaign for three settlers who went missing near an illegal Israeli settlement in northern al-Khalil on June 12.

Israel has also closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing used for fuel deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip following the disappearance of the settlers. The Kerem Shalom crossing is the only way for fuel tankers to enter Gaza.

While Israeli authorities claim the teenagers have been kidnapped by Palestinians, the Palestinian officials say they are cooperating with the search.