In the summer of 2014, the Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph and Times of London all reported on the large number of arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank following the abduction of three Israeli teens, in an Israeli operation code-named Brother’s Keeper.
Peter Beaumont (Israeli forces tighten grip on West Bank in search for three abducted teenagers, June 15) reported thusly:
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has accused the Islamic militant group Hamas of being behind the kidnapping of three teenagers – including a US citizen – who went missing nearly three days ago, as Israeli troops tightened their grip on the southern West Bank and rounded up scores of Palestinians.
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Amid rapidly rising tensions in the West Bank, the Israeli military flooded the Hebron area with several thousand additional troops, deployed extra anti-rocket units in two southern cities and called up several hundred reservists.
The kidnapping and the scale of the operation to recover the boys and root out those responsible, is one of the most serious security incidents in recent memory.
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The search has been accompanied by widespread arrests – about 80 Palestinians were seized on Sunday, including dozens of members of Hamas swept up in overnight raids. Palestinian officials put the number of people taken into custody by Israeli authorities so far at more than 100, including seven Hamas members of the newly forged Palestinian parliament and several prisoners recently released by Israel.
The Independent’s Ben Lynfield (Kidnapped Israeli teenagers: Arrests, anger and a deadly raid in the heart of Ramallah, June 22) noted the following: