Israel arrests more Palestinians in hunt for teens

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli occupation forces have arrested 10 more Palestinians in the West Bank as they press their search for three teenagers believed to have been kidnapped, the army said Saturday.

“Ten people were arrested overnight, bringing to 330 the number of wanted Palestinians arrested since the beginning of the operation,” a spokeswoman said.

Israel accuses Hamas of kidnapping two 16 year olds and a 19-year-old who went missing June 12 at a hitchhiking stop in the West Bank, an allegation the Islamist group has dismissed.

Public radio said those arrested included people who had been released from Israeli jails as part of the 2011 deal to free soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been captured and then held by Hamas for five years.

The army declined to confirm that report.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation said some 50 former prisoners have been placed back in administrative detention by Israel and 380 Palestinians had been arrested since June 12.

Israeli media said teams of firemen and police specialised in rescue operations were in the Hebron area, searching wells, reservoirs and caves.

The search was ongoing inside Hebron city itself, where a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was killed on Friday by the army as well as in Ramallah, where the army said it had raided the premises of the Hamas television channel.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, a 60-year-old man died of a heart attack as Israeli troops searched outside his house, Palestinian security sources said.

Separately, a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, striking near Ashkelon city without causing any casualties, the army said.

The missing Israeli teenagers are Gilad Shaer, 16, from Talmon settlement near Ramallah, Naftali Frenkel, 16, from Nof Ayalon, and Eyal Ifrach, 19, from Elad, both in central Israel.