Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Thursday, 26 June 2014) made the following remarks at the Israel Air Force pilots' course graduation ceremony:

"A short time after the kidnapping I said that those who perpetrated this activity were terrorists of Hamas. And indeed, today, the security services of Israel have published the names of two of the perpetrators of this heinous crime. I now expect President Abbas, who said important things in Saudi Arabia, to stand by those words and to break his pact with the Hamas terrorist organization that kidnaps children and calls for the destruction of Israel."


(Communicated by the Israel Security Agency)

Following is information that has been allowed for publication regarding the investigation into the abduction of the three youths:

Less than a day after the abduction of Gilad Sha'er, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrah, the ISA learned that Hamas was behind the kidnapping.

The two main terrorists involved in the abduction are Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Isa, Hamas activists from Hebron, who became fugitives immediately upon the perpetration of the kidnapping. The ISA and IDF have been conducting a wide-ranging manhunt to apprehend the fugitives, first and foremost in order to locate the abducted youths.

Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha operated in the framework of the Hamas organization in the Hebron area. Several other suspects have been detained by the ISA, IDF and Israel Police on suspicion of involvement in the abduction.


Marwan Kawasmeh

Marwan Kawasmeh has been previously arrested for his activities in Hamas. He was born in 1985 and already at 18 was arrested, tried and sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment (until August 2004). He has since been arrested on four other occasions and has been held in administrative detention.

In his most recent investigation, in 2010, he admitted to having been recruited to the Hamas military wing in the Hebron area in 2009. He was involved in military training in caves in the Hebron area, was active in obtaining raw materials for the production of explosives and assisted the organization in recruiting additional youths for Hamas activities. For these actions, he was imprisoned until March 2012.



Amar Abu-Eisha

Amar Abu-Eisha was born in 1981. He was arrested for the first time in November 2005, investigated and held in administrative detention until June 2006. He was arrested again in April 2007 and held for a short time.

His terrorist brother was killed in November 2005 in the act of attempting to throw an explosive device at an IDF force. His father was arrested in Israel several times for terrorist activities.