U.S. officials involved in the investigation of the three Israeli teenagers who were taken hostage in the West Bank say that the teens were shot and killed by a silenced gun at least ten times, according to Reuters.
The official who spoke to Reuters on the condition on anonymity said that the killings seem to be premeditated since the killers chose to use a silencer to conduct the murder.
However, Israeli officials have declined to comment on the U.S.' version of events, noting that the investigation is still ongoing.
"We haven't even caught the kidnappers yet, so we're not going public with anything more now," said an official from the Shin Bet security service, which is leading the investigation.
The three teens were kidnapped while hitchhiking in the West Bank on June 12, and their bodies were not discovered until June 30 despite over 1,000 Israeli raids throughout the West Bank.
Tel Aviv leadership largely blamed Hamas for the teens' kidnapping before any information or evidence was in that would link the Palestinian group to the abduction.
U.S. investigators, who are involved in the case due to the fact that one of the kidnapped teens hold U.S. citizenship, allegedly received a recording of "a distressed call" from one of the abducted from Israel within days of the kidnapping.
However, no further concrete information regarding the killers' identities was reported.
The abductions have sparked a new wave of violence in Israel and Palestine, with Tel Aviv launching what has been described as a "barbaric" airstrike campaign on Gaza. What are believed to be far-right Jews also murdered a teen in Jerusalem last week in what has been described as a revenge killing.
