NPR Blogs

Israel Kills Man In Raid As Troops Seek Teens' Abductors

By Bill Chappell

Published July 1, 2014 at 7:30 AM EDT

Relatives gather outside the damaged house of Amer Abu Eishe, a Palestinian member of Hamas in Hebron whom Israel named as one of two prime suspects in the murder of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers. The house was damaged in a raid.

Israel says its military killed a Palestinian man from the Hamas militant group during an arrest raid. The operation was part of the search for two Palestinians suspected in the deaths of three Israeli teens whose bodies were found Monday.

The man killed in the raid has been identified as Yosuf abu Zaghah; his age is being reported as 16 by some news outlets, and up to 20 by others.

From Jerusalem, Daniel Estrin reports for NPR's Newscast:

"The military says troops killed the Palestinian man after he tried to throw a grenade at them during an overnight raid in the town of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"The army said soldiers also raided the home of one of the suspects in the killing of the Israeli teens, using explosives to enter and blowing up part of the house. Israeli planes struck 34 targets in Gaza in response to at least 18 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel since Sunday.

"But Israel's security Cabinet is still considering how to respond to the deaths of the three teenagers. The three are being buried alongside each other in a joint funeral today."

The three Israeli teenagers had been kidnapped while trying to hitchhike home from school late on the night of June 12 near Hebron in the West Bank. Their disappearance set off a search effort that ended Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for the deaths, pledging that the group "will pay."

Hamas has denied responsibility for the deaths. CNN reports the group saying, "If Netanyahu 'brings a war on Gaza,' the gates of hell will open to him."

From the AP:

"A military spokesman meanwhile said aircraft struck 34 targets across Gaza overnight after more than 20 rockets were fired into Israel since late Sunday from the Palestinian territory."

Israel's Shin Bet security agency is trying to work out what happened to the teens after they went missing.

According to the Jerusalem Post, in one scenario, it's suspected that after one of the young men tried to call police from their abductors' car, the three were then killed.