The Israeli military has identified the three teens, one reportedly a 16-year-old American, who were abducted by terrorists in the West Bank on Thursday.
Naftali Frenkel was captured along with Gilad Shaar, 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19, according to officials.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Islamic militant group Hamas of kidnapping the teenagers after Israeli troops arrested some 80 Palestinians, including dozens of Hamas members, in an overnight raid in the West Bank.
Eyal Yifrach, left, and American Naftali Frenkel, right, are two of the teens abducted last Thursday by terrorists in the West Bank.
‘Those who perpetrated the abduction of our youths were members of Hamas,’ he said on Sunday. ‘This has severe repercussions.’
The Palestinians have rejected blame, saying the teens went missing in territory under full Israeli control.
Frenkel’s mother said her family is in close contact with the security forces and getting briefings on any new information, reports NBC News.
‘We feel and know that they are turning the world in order to find the three,’ Racheli Frenkel told reporters.
After thanking Israelis for their prayers, she also issued a heartbreaking message directed at her son.
‘Mommy and Daddy and your brothers love you until the end of the world and you should know that the people of Israel are doing all they can to bring you back home,’ she said.
Israel’s prime minister and President Shimon Peres have both reached out to the families of the missing teens.
‘We are one nation, we are one family and I want you to know that all of Israel is with you during these difficult times,’ Peres told them on Saturday, according to the president’s office.
Peres also said that all branches of Israel’s security forces are ‘doing everything to bring our boys home,’ adding that ‘the people of Israel are praying for their safe return.’
The crisis has escalated already heightened tensions between Israel and the new Palestinian government, which is headed by Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas but backed by Hamas.
Palestinian militants have repeatedly threatened to kidnap Israelis, hoping to use them as bargaining chips to win the release of prisoners held by Israel.
This would be the first time three civilians have been taken at the same time.
The overnight raid was concentrated in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, in the area where the youths disappeared.
A Hamas website said more than 60 of those arrested were members, including senior figures in the movement. The Israeli military also detained supporters of Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group.