Israel arrests 80 Palestinians in response to teens' kidnapping

A Palestinian woman argues with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron June 15, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas were behind the missing of the three Israeli teenagers.

"Today I can say that the kidnap was executed by Hamas," Netanyahu said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting, which was relocated to the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. "This has grave consequences," he warned.

"The aim of this activity is to tighten the circle of intelligence," an army source told Ynet news website.

On Saturday night after lengthy consultations with his defense chiefs at the nation's military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said in a televised statement that his government was doing "everything it can and more" to bring the victims home, demanding that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas do "everything that's required" to assist these efforts.

"We view Abbas and the Palestinian National Authority as responsible for any attack against Israel launched from their territory, either the West Bank or the Gaza Strip," said Netanyahu.

He dismissed the Palestinian claim that it bears no responsibility because the abduction took place in a West Bank area where Israel has full security control as "essentially unfounded."

Netanyahu said the abduction illustrated the inherent dangers of a newly sworn-in unity government sponsored by Abbas' Fatah party and Islamist group Hamas, reminding that his government has warned for months against the "harsh consequences" of the alliance.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Saturday the three kidnapped Israelis were presumed to be alive.

"At the moment we are working under the assumption that they are alive," he told the media after a meeting with top military brass at a territorial brigade's headquarters in the West Bank.