Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

Hamas Was Not Responsible At All for Abduction and Murder of 3 Israeli Teens, Which Was Used as Excuse to the Israeli Criminal War on Gaza

New Reports Show That Murder of 3 Israeli Teenage Settlers Was Not Carried Out by Hamas

Saturday July 26, 2014 22:46 by Celine Hagbard - IMEMC News

The alleged kidnapping and murder of three Israeli settlers, in late June, was the oft-cited reason for Israel’s escalation against the Hamas government in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. But new evidence indicates that Hamas was not responsible at all for the murders, according to reporters who spoke with Israeli police.

Mass abduction of Hamas officials in June (image by karachireports.wordpress.com)

The order of events, taking into consideration that Israeli raids of the West Bank and shooting of Gazan fishermen have been daily occurrences for years, began with the disappearance of three Israeli teenagers, from a colony built on Palestinian land in the West Bank, on June 12th.

For three weeks following, Israeli forces rampaged through the West Bank, abducting legislators, politicians, and virtually anyone who was publicly associated with the political party Hamas (a Palestinian political party whose armed wing has, in the past, claimed responsibility for attacks against both Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilians), taking over 900 people into custody. Hamas officials vehemently denied any connection with the disappearance of the settlers. Palestinian officials challenged the campaign of mass abductions as a violation of international law.

It should be noted that the raids against Hamas officials came within a month after the Palestinian Authority announced the formation of a unity government that included both the more militant Hamas party and the Fateh party, which has long acted as an arm of the Israeli occupation government in the West Bank. Israeli officials had voiced alarm at this development, as it represented a unification between Palestinian factions that had long been divided. The U.S. government had even announced that it would consider working with the unity government (see here and here), raising alarm among Israeli officials who had tried to discredit the Palestinian efforts.

After the teens’ bodies were found on June 30th, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated unequivocally, "They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by animals in human form. Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay” for their disappearance. He did not, however, present any evidence to support this claim. Six weeks later, after the abduction and torturous interrogation of hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, there has still been no evidence presented that shows Hamas involvement – or even the involvement of any Palestinians at all – in the deaths of the three youth.

Indeed, on Friday, July 25th, BBC reporter Jon Donnison published on Twitter a series of statements from a conversation he had with the Israeli police spokesperson, Micky Rosenfeld.

Donnison wrote, “Israeli police MickeyRosenfeld tells me men who killed 3 Israeli teens def[initely] lone cell, Hamas affiliated but not operating under leadership … Seems to contradict the line from Netanyahu government.”

He also wrote that Rosenfeld told him, “Israeli police spokes Mickey Rosenfeld also said if kidnapping had been ordered by Hamas leadership, they'd have known about it in advance.”

In addition to implying that Israel has moles within the leadership of the Hamas party, this statement also draws into question the stated justification for Israel’s offensive into Gaza, which has already claimed up to 1,000 lives.

This is not the first time that Israeli officials have admitted that they do not believe Hamas was behind the disappearance and subsequent deaths of the teens. On June 15th, Sheera Frenkel of Buzzfeed reported, “The kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers was likely carried out by a small group of militants with no direct orders from Hamas, ISIS, or any other regional terror group, said senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Sunday. ‘What we do know, is that this was likely an opportunistic move. The men behind this may have ties to a larger terror group, but this does not have the markings of a well-planned, complex operation,’ One Israeli officer, based in the West Bank, told BuzzFeed. ‘It makes it more difficult to find them if there isn’t a larger trail of intelligence to sniff out.’”

Most analysts familiar with the issue say that the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza has nothing to do with the three teens (or the subsequent increase in Palestinian resistance shelling that followed the Israeli raids and abductions of 800 Hamas-affiliated people in the West Bank), but was meant to challenge the Palestinian Authority’s unity government.

Shin Bet Admits Failure to Find 3 Missing Teens

Saturday July 05, 2014 01:56 by Chris Carlson - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

Shin Bet has admitted their failure to come up with any positive conclusion regarding the whereabouts of the alleged ‘abduction’ of the three Israeli settlers in Hebron.

Israeli soldiers during a search operation to locate the three missing teenagers, in the village of Halhul, near the West Bank town of Hebron, on June 29, 2014. Photographer: Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images

According to Al Ray, Israeli journalist Ben Caspit quoted an official from the Israeli security service as saying that they failed in its mission to find the abductees and that an operation should have been frustrated in its infancy.

“It’s about two young men who were held in Israeli prisons in the past and should have been well under surveillance before the operation," he said.

Three Israeli teens, one said to be holding US citizenship, were reported missing late on Thursday, June 12, somewhere between Gush Etzion settlement bloc and the Alon Shvut settlement.

In the weeks that followed, Israel launched an extensive and continuing series of arrest raids and military assaults across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in which over 600 Palestinians, including political officials were arrested, aorund 170 of which were placed under administrative detention, without charge or hope for a trial.

The bodies of the three missing settlers were uncovered near Halhoul, north of Hebron, over two weeks later, in a field not far from where they reportedly went missing.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been injured in ongoing clashes, since the bodies tuned up. Thirteen Palestinians have been killed since June 12.

From the first reports of the alleged abduction, Israel quickly pointed to Islamist political faction Hamas in naming a target suspect. Hamas has persistently denied the accusations and evidence to suggest that Hamas or any other Palestinian group or individual was behind the teens' disappearance has never been presented.

"This operation was not the result of chance, it took long to plan for," the official was further quoted as saying.

High Level Plan Behind Missing Settlers

Monday June 16, 2014 19:54 by Chris Carlson - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

Military correspondent and defense analyst for Israeli paper Haaretz, Amos Harel, claims that the case of the missing three Israeli settlers is an abduction performed at a high level of planning and strict compartmentalization:

The missing settlers

"The operation reflects a level of planning and performance that is exceptional compared to previous abduction attempts. The attack is reminiscent of the carefully planned abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border in 2006," he said.

According to a report by Al Ray, Harel believes that the "kidnappers" received a gift they hadn’t expected -- nearly six hours of total quiet before Israeli security forces launched a search operation.

There have been other serious attacks in the region which were never solved. To be noted are the killing of Givati soldier Gal "Gavriel" Kobi, last October, and the killing of Israel Police Chief Supt. Baruch Mizrahi, on Passover eve, in April.

According to Harel, the two incidents show similar characteristics: "the doers prepared an escape route in advance and immediately went underground."

No Palestinian faction has claimed the responsibility for the incident.

Emir Bouchbot, a correspondent for Walla's website has quoted a senior Israeli army officer as saying that "the scenario that the army feared is that the kidnapping cell could hide in a secret bunker announcing the state of 'temporary death', giving the political leaders the chance to sign a swap deal with Israel."

He alleges that the military wing of Hamas carried out the operation outside of the political level. However, the problem is keeping the abductees and holding negotiations at the same time.

Military analyst for Hayoum, Yoav Limor, had ruled out the possibility of attacking Hamas leaders in Gaza, saying that it would set off armed conflict in which Hamas rockets would target central Israel.

Media sources report that, in the last two days, Israel has now detained over 150 Palestinians in the West Bank, in its search for the three missing settlers.