Three kidnapped Israeli teens, from L-R: Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Frenkel, 16, and Gil-ad Shaar, 16. (photo credit: Times of Israel)

Three Israeli teenage boys — including one who is American-born — disappeared last Thursday. Fairly quickly, Israeli authorities determined the boys had been kidnapped and taken into the West Bank. Prime Minister Netanyahu says he has hard evidence that Hamas is responsible.

• Please pray for the Lord to protect these three young men — and their  families — and give them courage and peace.
• Please pray that they will be returned safely to their families.
• Please pray, too, for Israeli authorities to have wisdom to know how to find them, and  for Palestinian authorities to actively assist in their safe and speedy return.
• Please also share this story with others and encourage others to start praying.

“Yeshiva students Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gil-ad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Frenkel, 16, were abducted while hitchhiking south of Jerusalem Thursday night, Israeli officials said, leading to a wide-ranging manhunt in the West Bank to locate the three,” reports the Times of Israel.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday morning that the Palestinian terror group Hamas was behind the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank on Thursday, and warned there would be ‘severe repercussions,'” the Times noted….”The IDF arrested 80 Palestinians, including senior members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, overnight Saturday as security forces continued to search for information regarding the whereabouts of the students. Among those arrested was Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of Hamas, along with former ministers and members of the Palestinian parliament, according to the Palestinian Ma’an news agency. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the prime minister’s accusation was ‘stupid,’ and ‘designed to break Hamas,’ according to the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency. Abu Zuhri added that the tactic would not succeed, and that Israeli measures in the West Bank — including the wave of arrests — only indicated the IDF’s “state of confusion” with regard to the kidnapping. An IDF spokesperson confirmed to The Times of Israel that it believed Hamas was behind the kidnappings.”

“According to our current evidence we know that Hamas is responsible for the abduction,” the spokesperson said.

“Hamas hailed the ‘success’ of the abduction on Saturday, but a senior official of the group denied that the terror group had any involvement or knowledge about the incident,” the Times reported.

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