Baku-APA. Israeli police on Tuesday released an audio recording of the phone call made by one of the kidnapped Jewish teens shortly after they were captured, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
On June 12, Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gil-Ad Sha'ar, 16, and Naftali Frankel, 16, were hitchhiking near the Gush Ezion settlement area. At 22:25 that night, Sha'ar managed to make a call to the police and notify them they were abducted.
During the recording Sha'ar can be heard whispering "I've been kidnapped" in Hebrew. After that, shouting is heard in Arabic saying "keep your head down" followed by an instruction to "take the phone away from him."
The police receptionist tried several times to talk with the caller, but to no avail. Shortly after, muffled sounds of either hitting or shooting are heard and someone is heard moaning in pain.
The police, however, did not initially take the call seriously, believing it to be a prank. Only several hours later, when one of the kidnapped teens' family members contacted the police saying his son was missing, did the police make a connection between the phone call and the missing person's report and forward the information to the military and the Shin Bet Security Agency.
Amid public criticism over the police's conduct, an internal police committee recommended the dismissal of three police officials.
The bodies of the three Israeli teens were found on Monday evening by Israeli security forces near the Palestinian village of Halhul, north of Hebron, not far from where they were allegedly kidnapped. Security officials estimate that the three were killed shortly after being abducted.
Israel is currently contemplating how to respond to the incident. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened members of his security cabinet on Monday night to discuss the possible courses of action, but no decisions were made. The cabinet will resume its discussions on Tuesday evening.
Netanyahu has previously accused the Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, of carrying out the abduction, saying the group " will pay." But the prime minister has indicated that he prefers to avoid an expanded military operation in the Gaza Strip, though hawkish Economy Minister Naftali Bennet is advocating for a military response.
During the past two weeks, thousands of Israeli security forces have carried out raids in the West Bank in an army operation dubbed "Brother's Keeper," searching for the missing teens and their kidnappers in more than 2,200 locations, according to the IDF Spokesperson's unit.
Israeli security forces have arrested more than 420 Palestinian suspects during the operation. And at least six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since security forces launched their search operation throughout the West Bank.
Tension between Israelis and Palestinians have mounted since the teenagers disappeared and Israel's aggressive operation has angered many Palestinians, causing a backlash in the West Bank, with many young men often throwing stones at the soldiers, who use live ammunition to disperse them.
According to the Shin Bet Security Agency, the two main suspects are Marwan Kawasmeh, 29, and Amar Abu-Isa, 32, both of whom have disappeared since the alleged kidnap.
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