Tensions have mounted between Israel and the Palestine after the funeral of the three Israeli teens who were found dead in the West Bank more than two weeks after they went missing. Hundreds of Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli police, who responded with tear gas, in clashes that erupted following reports that an Arab teen was kidnapped in retaliation and that a body had been found in a Jerusalem forest.
A Palestinian hurls a stone towards Israeli police during clashes in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem, on July 2, 2014Reuters
Israel's prime minister has threatened to take even tougher action against Hamas following an intense wave of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, as the country buried three Israeli teens it says were kidnapped and killed by the Islamic militant group.
Benjamin Netanyahu said his first goal is to find the killers of the three teens. "We will not rest until we reach the last of them," he said.
The three kidnapped Israeli teenagers (L-R): Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Schaer and Eyal YifrachReuters
The three teenagers — Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship — disappeared on the night of 12 June as they were hitchhiking home from Jewish seminaries they attended in the West Bank.
The abductions sparked Israel's broadest ground operation in the West Bank in nearly a decade, with the military deploying thousands of troops in a frantic search for the youths. Accusing Hamas of being behind the abductions, it also launched a massive crackdown against the group's West Bank infrastructure.
30 June: Israeli army and police stand guard near Halhoul, north of Hebron, where the bodies of three Israeli teenagers were foundGetty
The manhunt came to a grim end on Monday when searchers discovered the teens' bodies under a pile of rocks in a field near the city of Hebron, a few miles from where they disappeared.
The plight of the teens captured the nation's attention, and the discovery of their bodies prompted an outpouring of grief. An estimated 50,000 mourners attended Tuesday's funeral in the central Israeli city of Modiin, arriving in hundreds of buses organised for the occasion.
"This day has spontaneously turned into a national day of mourning," Netanyahu said in his eulogy as the three bodies, wrapped in blue-and-white Israeli flags and laid out on stretchers were laid to rest side-by-side.
An Israeli flag flies over crowds attending the joint funeral of three Israeli teens, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19Reuters
Bat-Galim Shaer (R, front) and Iris Yifrach (2nd R, front), comfort each other during the joint funeral of their sons in the Israeli city of Modi'in on 1 JulyReuters
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands next to fathers Avi Fraenkel and Ofir Shaer at the funeral of their murdered sonsReuters
Vast crowds gathered in Modi'in to join the outpouring of public grief during the funeralGetty
Earlier, hundreds of people had headed to the teens' hometowns for separate memorial services.
"Rest in peace my child," said Fraenkel's mother, Rachelle, who became a well-known figure during the ordeal as she sought to draw attention to the teens' plight. "We will learn to sing without you. We will always hear your voice inside of us."
Israelis gather outside the house of Eyal Yifrach, one the three kidnapped teenagers, on 30 June, after Israel confirmed that their bodies had been found in a field near HalhulAFP
Orthodox Jews talk as they gather outside the house of Eyal YifrachAFP
Israel has identified two Hamas operatives as the chief suspects in the kidnappings. But it has offered little public evidence against the men, who remain on the loose. It also is unclear whether the suspects acted alone or at the instruction of Hamas leaders. Hamas has praised the kidnappings, but not said whether it ordered the mission.
Hamas has long encouraged its members to kidnap Israelis, believing hostages could be used to win the release of thousands of Palestinian militants held in Israeli prisons. Israeli security officials are not sure whether the kidnappers set out to kill the teens, or did so in a bout of panic after one of them called police.
1 July: Flames are seen after a blast on the top floor of the family home of one of the alleged abductors in the West Bank City of Hebron. Neighbours said both houses were emptyReuters
1 July: Palestinians inspect the blown-up house of Amer Abu Eisheh, one of two Palestinians suspected in the killing of the Israeli teensAFP
Mourners carry the body of Palestinian militant Osama al-Hosomi during his funeral in the northern Gaza Strip on 27 June. An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian militants and critically wounded a third. A source identified the men as belonging to the Popular Resistance Committees, a network of militant groups that has fired rockets into southern IsraelReuters
A Palestinian boy looks at the body of a Hamas gunman at a hospital morgue in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 29 JuneReuters
The crackdown in the West Bank has been accompanied by a spike in violence in Gaza. Israel unleashed a wave of airstrikes on Hamas targets in response to repeated rocket fire.
Palestinian militants have fired more rockets into Israel. The barrage, which caused no injuries, raised the likelihood of new Israeli reprisals.
Israeli firefighters extinguish a burning factory hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on 28 June at an industrial zone in the southern city of SderotAFP
30 June: Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon answers journalists' questions as he visits a factory in Sderot that was damaged by a rocket fired from GazaAFP
YOU MIGHT LIKE THISSponsored Content by Taboola
No comments:
Post a Comment