Funeral ceremony of the three slain Israeli teens. Photo: Ch2 screenshot.

JNS.org – Israel’s Channel 2 on Wednesday aired a recording of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri, who is based in Turkey, claiming responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in June. The recording is the strongest evidence to date for Hamas’s involvement in that crime.

“I praise the brave action that the al-Qassam Brigades carried out, the kidnapping of the three settlers to Hebron,” al-Arouri said in the recording, adding that the Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrach were kidnapped and killed in response to the hunger strikes by Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons, according to the Times of Israel.