Kidnapped Israelis shot 10 times with silenced gun by Palestinians: US lab
Three Israeli teenagers who were abducted by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank last month were shot at least 10 times with a silenced gun in what appeared to be premeditated killings, a US official involved in the investigation said. The disclosure clashed with speculation by some Israeli and Palestinian commentators that the captors intended to take hostages for a prisoner exchange but panicked and shot them.
The killing of the three Jewish seminary students followed the collapse of US-brokered peace talks in April. One of them, 16-year-old Naftali Fraenkel, also held American citizenship. Israeli police believe the killings led far-right Jews to kidnap and burn to death a Palestinian youth in revenge, and the incident also contributed to an eruption of three weeks of clashes between Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military.
The killing of the three Jewish seminary students followed the collapse of US-brokered peace talks in April. One of them, 16-year-old Naftali Fraenkel, also held American citizenship. Israeli police believe the killings led far-right Jews to kidnap and burn to death a Palestinian youth in revenge, and the incident also contributed to an eruption of three weeks of clashes between Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military.