Israeli soldiers patrol at Birzeit University, on the outskirts of Ramallah in the West Bank during an operation on June 19, 2014. Israeli forces broadened the search for three teenagers believed kidnapped by Palestinian militants and imposed a tight closure on the town. (Issam Rimawi/Flash 90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli troops detained 30 Palestinian suspects overnight as it continued to search for the kidnapped Israeli teens.
The military and security forces searched 100 locations Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, including 10 operations against Hamas’ Dawa institutions, which provide support for civilians and through which Hamas recruits operatives, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Some 280 Palestinians have been arrested since the teens were kidnapped don the evening of June 12, including 200 Hamas operatives.
During military operations in Jenin on Wednesday night, local Palestinians threw homemade explosives and shot at the troops; homemade explosives and rocks were thrown at Israeli troops in Nablus.
On Wednesday, the parents of the three kidnapped teens met with defense officials and were updated on the military’s extensive efforts to locate and return the boys.
During the meeting the parents listened to a tape of the phone call made by one of the teens to a police hotline, in which the caller said they had been abducted. Some of the parents lost their composure and left the room following the playing of the two-minute tape, according to Channel 2.
The police dispatcher who took the call thought it was a prank and police did not inform the army of the call until 7 hours later on the morning of Dec. 13, when the parents of one of the boys went personally to the police. The Israel Police have appointed a special task force to investigate the communications breakdown.
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