Outrage Over Murder Of Teenagers : ''Hamas Will Pay''........ Israeli Prime Minister

The bodies of three Israeli teenagers, kidnapped this month, were found in the West Bank yesterday and Israel has blamed Hamas for their disappearances and deaths.

"Hamas will pay," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization, with an associated military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in the Palestinian territories.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri warned against escalation, saying that if Netanyahu "brings a war on Gaza, the gates of hell will open to him."

The three bodies were found northwest of Hebron, according to the Israeli military, which said they were still in the process of being identified.

The teens -- Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frankel, a 16-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen -- disappeared late June 12 or early June 13 from the Jewish settlement of Gush Etzion in the West Bank, the military said.

"Although the identification has not been officially confirmed, I would like to send my support and condolences to the Shaar, Frankel and Yifrach families," Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, with the Israel Defense Forces, told reporters.

"The war on terror continues. It didn't begin now and it will not be over soon," Alon told reporters.

"We will do whatever it takes to deter Hamas and other terrorists and we'll continue to fight terror using every legal means at our disposal."

"All Israel tonight is united in mourning the three teens who were brutally murdered by the Hamas terrorists," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, stressing that Israel will "continue to act against Hamas in order to protect our people."

"Hamas says every Israeli man, woman and child, every civilian, is a legitimate target for these sort of terrorist attacks, so we're totally within our rights to protect ourselves against those Hamas terrorists who want to kill our people," Regev said.

When asked whether he holds the Palestinian Authority responsible in any way for the teens' deaths, he responded: "It's clear that the terrorists came from areas under Palestinian Authority control and returned to territories under Palestinian Authority control."

U.S. President Barack Obama, Pope Francis and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon were among world leaders condemning the killings Monday.

"As a father, I cannot imagine the indescribable pain that the parents of these teenage boys are experiencing. The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of terror against innocent youth," Obama said in a statement.

He continued: "From the outset, I have offered our full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice, and I encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to continue working together in that effort. I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation."

Source: CNN