In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in 1 village nr. Hebron in the afternoon. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities close the Kerem Shalom crossing. (PCHR 6/19)
Three teenage Israeli settlers—Eyal Yifrach (19), Gilad Shaar (16), and U.S.-Israeli national Naftali Frenkel (16)—are kidnapped while hitchhiking home from a yeshiva in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc nr. Jerusalem. The affiliation and identity of the perpetrators is immediately a subject of much speculation, and it is later confirmed to be low-level, Hebronbased Hamas activists operating without direction from the political leadership. According to Israeli media reports, security forces suspect a burned out car found nr. Hebron is linked to the kidnapping, with the perpetrators rumored to be trying to leave Israeli-controlled territory via Jordan. In response, the IDF initiates Operation Brother’s Keeper (OBK), a campaign of arrests, raids, and detentions targeting Hamas in the West Bank. (HA, MNA 6/13)