JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in a televised address that Israel will capture the murderers of three Israeli teens no matter where they hide.
“Whoever was involved in the kidnapping and the murder will bear the consequences. We will neither rest nor slacken until we reach the last of them, and it does not matter where they will try to hide. We will reach them all even if it takes time,” Netanyahu said Monday evening following the funerals of the three teens and before entering a security Cabinet meeting to determine how to respond to their murders, the second meeting in two nights.
“The entire nation supports the families and the entire nation is united in our struggle against murderous terrorism. We are fighting it decisively and with determination,” the prime minister said.
Netanyahu also said that the military will strike against Hamas in the West Bank and in Gaza.
“Anyone who thinks that they can achieve anything by using terrorism against us will continue to be mistaken and will achieve the opposite results,” Netanyahu asserted. “Hamas is responsible. Hamas will pay and Hamas will continue to pay.”
Brother’s Keeper, the search operation that began with the abduction of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach, continues despite the discovery of their bodies.
Israeli security forces have detained 419 of what it has identified as terror operatives, of which 335 are affiliated with Hamas, including 12 of its leaders. Some 56 Palestinians released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011 are among those who have been arrested.
