Bodies Of Missing Israeli Teenagers Found: Report

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

Update 3:40 p.m. EDT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who blamed terrorists for the boys' disappearance at the time they went missing, said the militant Palestinian group Hamas "is responsible, and Hamas will pay," according to Haaretz.

"They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by animals. In the name of the whole of Israel, I ask to tell the dear families - to the mothers, the fathers, the grandmothers and the grandfathers, the brothers and sisters - our hearts are bleeding, the whole nation is crying with them. We will bring the boys to be buried according to Jewish rites," Netanyahu added.

Meanwhile, Hamas warned of repercussions if Israeli responds militarily and denied being responsible.

"If the occupiers carry out an escalation or a war, they will open the gates of hell on themselves," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Agence France-Presse.

Update 1:43 p.m. EDT: Israeli media are reporting that the bodies have been identified as the three missing boys. Their families have been notified.

Update 1:32 p.m. EDT: The New York Times has reported that Israeli forces believe the bodies are those of the three missing boys.

“They know it’s the three; they will know for sure after they do the autopsy," an anonymous source told the paper, adding that the Israeli Army believes the teens were shot to death around the time they disappeared near Hebron two weeks ago.

Original story:

The bodies of three Israeli teenagers who went missing earlier this month have been found, according to ABC News correspondent Alexander Marquardt.

Other media outlets reported the discovery of three bodies, but those reports would not confirm that the bodies were those of the missing Israeli teenagers, one of whom, 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel, was a U.S. citizen. The other missing teens were 16-year-old Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah, 19.

The Israeli Cabinet was meeting on Monday in the wake of the discovery.