Israel – The Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] has spent the past 18 days piecing together a moment by moment account of what occurred to the three Israeli teenagers kidnapped and murdered by two Hamas men in Hebron last month.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Security evaluations are that the teenagers were murdered a short time after being kidnapped, as they sat in the back seat of the vehicle they had entered thinking they were hitching a ride.
Although other evaluations continue to be weighed, according to this view, a phone call by one of the boys to the police to try and report the kidnapping triggered an immediate and tragic end to their lives. The kidnappers then headed towards Halhul, north of Hebron, and buried the boys in a field three kilometers from the town.
In a hurry to get rid of the bodies, the kidnappers quickly buried them before going into hiding, most likely in the region.
Security sources say this is one of a number of evaluations. Due to the fact that kidnappers have not yet been captured, this evaluation cannot be confirmed at this time.
The Shin Bet launched a painstaking and complex process to compile an intelligence puzzle that eventually led to the location of the bodies.
Information was gathered from a variety of sources, including Shin Bet regional coordinators, signal intelligence, desk analysts, and information obtained through the questioning of arrested security suspects.
This led to a gradual elimination of areas where the domestic intelligence agency believed it would find the bodies, until estimations honed in on the area near Halhul.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, a Palestinian who hurled a grenade at soldiers during a raid in Jenin was killed by the army overnight between Monday and Tuesday. The IDF arrested three Palestinian suspects in Jenin and Hebron in overnight raids.
In the coming days, the IDF will gradually decrease the number of units in the West Bank, as the army shifts its focus on the hunt for the two Hamas kidnappers.
The IDF has the homes of the kidnappers surrounded and is searching them intensively to ensure that no clues have been missed during earlier searches. The army is waiting for a cabinet decision on whether to destroy the homes of the kidnappers. Family members of the kidnappers are being questioned by security forces.
The IDF is focusing its efforts on locating the kidnappers, and sources have expressed hope that they will be found in the near future.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
HaShem Yinkom Dam Hashafuch