JERUSALEM - Israeli troops on Monday demolished the homes of two Palestinians it suspects of the abduction and killing of an American and two other teenagers in the occupied West Bank in June, the army said. Troops set charges to destroy the homes of Hussam Kawasme and Amar Abu Aysha in the southern West Bank before dawn and sealed off the home of a third suspect, Marwan Kawasme, the army said.
Israel accuses Hamas Islamist militants of the abduction and killing of U.S. citizen Naftali Fraenkel and fellow Jewish seminary students Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah, who went missing on June 12 and were discovered dead a couple of weeks later in the West Bank. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied the accusations. The killings set off a cycle of violence that led to a month-long offensive between Israel and militants in Hamas-dominated Gaza. The military statement said Israel's supreme court had affirmed the military's wish to demolish the homes and had rejected three appeals by the suspects' families against their destruction.
