By Alaa Rimawi
JERUSALEM
The Israeli army said early Tuesday that it had killed two Palestinians suspected of kidnapping and killing three Jewish settlers near Hebron three months ago.
In a statement carried by the army radio, the military said that its forces killed Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha after besieging the place they had been holing up in central Hebron, southern West Bank.
A joint force from the army troops and the internal security agency (Shin Bet) managed to find the place where the pair had been hiding and killed them, the statement said.
The Palestinian Authority is yet to comment on the development.
Israeli authorities had earlier accused the pair of having been recruited by Hossam Qawasmeh – currently in Israeli custody – to help him kidnap and kill three teenage Jewish settlers in June.
They further claimed that Hossam had admitted to receiving funds from Hamas to recruit Abu Aisha and Qawasmeh for the operation.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in Hebron said that the Israeli army stormed several areas in the city at 2am (23:00 GMT), including the campus of Hebron University.
Gunfire has been heard as the Israeli troops is still besieging several neighborhoods in the city and denying access to Palestinian journalists and ambulances, the witnesses said.
The Israeli government has repeatedly accused Hamas of kidnapping the three teens, who went missing from a Jewish-only settlement in the southern West Bank on June 12.
Hamas, for its part, dismissed the claims, saying they were "nothing but fabrications."
Since mid-June, Israeli forces have detained some hundreds of West Bank Palestinians – including several Hamas lawmakers and former cabinet ministers – against the backdrop of the settlers' disappearance.
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