Missing Israeli settlers found dead

The Israeli army has said that they have found bodies of the three missing teenage settlers near Hebron in the Occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military announced late on Monday that the bodies had been found. "The bodies are currently going through forensic identification. The families of the abducted teens have been notified," the army said.

The bodies had been buried in a field near the village of Halhul, just north of Hebron, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The Israeli cabinet is holding an emergency meeting at the Knesset. The army is expected to issue a statement later on Monday.

Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar, both aged 16, and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrach were last seen at a junction near Hebron as they hitchhiked home.

Israel has accused Hamas of being behind their disappearance, a claim the Palestinian militant group has denied.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation's Hanan Ashrawi told Al Jazeera that the "Israeli escalation already took place, now they have an excuse of further escalation".

Israeli state media confirmed that the bodies were of the three teenagers - Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship - who disappeared almost two weeks ago while hitchhiking home from their religious seminary in Kfar Etzion, an illegal settlement in the West Bank between Bethlehem and Hebron.

The army initially focused its search in that area, sealing off Hebron and deploying troops to comb the hills and villages and installing checkpoints and concrete barriers. But the focus of the offensive quickly widened.

The US State Department urged Israel and Palestine on Monday to exercise restraint while continuing security cooperation.

"Any harm that has been done to these teenagers is a tragedy," it added.

More than 400 Palestinians have been arrested since the three settlers went missing in the West Bank on June 12.