The Palestinian Authority security forces and Israel Defense Forces are coordinating their efforts and have a constant open line of communication in the search of the three kidnapped Israeli teens in Hebron, a senior Palestinian security official said.

Sweets are handed out in Gaza to celebrate the kidnapping of three Israeli teens – Photo: AFP

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ office ordered the Palestinian security forces to relay all information that could be useful in finding the kidnapped teens to the IDF.

Conversely, Hamas has called on all Palestinians with security cameras to erase all their footage in order to obfuscate the terrorists’ escape and make gathering evidence more difficult.

“The coordination between the Palestinian Authority’s forces in the West Bank and the occupation army is akin to betrayal,” Islamic Jihad member Khaled al-Batash told reporters in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas’ office in Ramallah has remained quiet over the kidnapping and has yet to release an official statement. One senior official in Abbas’ office said that the Palestinian Authority president spoke with Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders. The official said Abbas ordered the groups to tone down their responses to the kidnapping and lashed out at some of the senior members of those groups for praising the kidnapping.

Officials in Ramallah were also angry at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements, which put the responsibility on the Palestinian Authority for the missing teens.

Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Madani condemned Netanyahu’s statement, saying that the kidnapping took place in Area C of the West Bank which is strictly under Israeli military control.

Some residents in the Gaza Strip and Hebron celebrated the kidnapping, with vendors handing out sweets and coffee to passers-by and some dancing and singing in the streets.

“We send our blessing to our brave warriors in Hebron, sincerely, the noble Gaza Strip,” one Gaza resident told Palestinian media outlets.

Despite the celebration, Palestinians are already quickly feeling the repercussions. “We are already feeling the punitive measures taken by Israel,” one journalist from the Gaza Strip told Israel Hayom. “The Kerem Shalom crossing has been closed to supplies and gasoline. Most gas stations in Gaza are closed as they have no diesel or gasoline, and those that are still open will run out in a day or two,” he said.

The current working assumption is that the three teens were kidnapped by a terrorist group. Which group still remains to be determined. Multiple groups have already taken credit. The extremist Salafist group Dawlat al-Islam (“Nation of Islam”) took credit for the kidnapping on Friday. Shortly after, another group calling itself “Hebron’s Sons of Freedom” claimed they have the three Israeli teens, with a statement posted on the Internet stating that the goal of the kidnapping was to release Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Palestinian Authority security forces told Israel Hayom that the groups are fictitious and have nothing to do with Thursday’s kidnapping.