Gilad Shalit upon his return to Israel. Photo: IDF.

JNS.org – Fifty-one prisoners released in the 2011 deal that secured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit’s freedom were re-arrested Wednesday among a group of more than 65 Palestinians detained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as part of the search for three Jewish teens believed to have been abducted by Hamas, the IDF said.

Israel freed 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in the exchange for Shalit. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that a total of 240 Palestinians have been arrested in Judea and Samaria amid a crackdown on Hamas since the June 12 kidnapping near Hebron. Israel’s Civil Administration also raided nine Hamas-linked institutions in Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tulkarem,”Ž and Nablus.

“We have been saying this since the start of the operation and we are saying it again today: The two channels—arrests of terror operatives and the gathering of information about the kidnapped Israelis—will converge into one,” Lerner said.