ISRAEL TO STEP UP CRACKDOWN ON HAMAS, PALESTINIANS
West Bank, 21 Sya’ban 1435/19 June 2014 (MINA) –The Israeli occupation regime seeks to step up its aggression against the Palestinians under the pretext of searching for illegal settlers allegedly missing in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli occupation forces continue their crackdown on official figures of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in the occupied West Bank after the alleged disappearance of the Israeli teens last Thursday, Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
However, they have apparently made no progress in their search operations so far.
Since last week, the Israeli military has used the kidnapping claim to pile pressure on Hamas and weaken its position in Judea and Samaria in the southern and northern West Bank and find the missing Israeli settlers.
On June 16, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tel Aviv was “in the midst of a complex operation,” adding, “We are also carrying out additional operations about which I will not elaborate.”
Tel Aviv has accused the Palestinian resistance movement of kidnapping the three Israelis, who the regime claims went missing in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).
This is while. the Israeli regime’s detention campaign is still underway in several areas in the West Bank.
Some 280 Palestinians, including 200 Hamas figures, have been arrested over the past days.
However, Hamas rejects the claim, saying Tel Aviv seeks to sabotage the recent reconciliation accord reached between the movement and Fatah, which led to the formation of the Palestinian national unity government earlier this month.
The Palestinian faction has strongly condemned Israel’s recent abductions in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying the “cowardly” move is a “flagrant violation of all international conventions.”
Hamas leaders Hassan Yousef, Wasfi Qabaha, Khaled Abu Arafeh and Mohammed Totah have been among those recently abducted by Israel. (T/P012/P04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
