JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister on Tuesday urged the international community to demand the Western-backed Palestinian president break off ties with the militant Hamas group over the abduction of three Israeli teens, the latest sign that Israel’s massive five-day-old search in the West Bank has broader objectives than finding the missing.

Israel said it also wants to destroy the Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank and apparently hopes to reclaim international support after the latest failure of U.S.-led peace efforts.

Israel has launched its most significant military ground operation in more than five years since the three Jewish seminary students went missing last Thursday at a West Bank hitchhiking junction.

Troops have arrested more than 200 Palestinians, most of them Hamas activists, blocked roads and searched homes.

There has been no sign of life from the missing or demands issued by purported kidnappers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has alleged that Hamas was behind the abductions, but has offered no proof, while the Islamic militant group has praised the deed, but not claimed responsibility.

The abductions, accompanied by wall-to-wall Israeli media coverage and prayer vigils, have created unexpected diplomatic openings for Netanyahu, who only last week had found himself increasingly isolated in the international arena.

Since the kidnappings, Israel has been able to crack down on Hamas in the West Bank – in the context of the search for the missing teens – without an international outcry or drawing allegations that it is provoking unnecessary confrontations with the Palestinians.


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