国际英语新闻:Israel decides to stiffen conditions for Hamas prisoners over kidnapping

JERUSALEM, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel decided on Tuesday to stiffen imprisonment conditions for Palestinian prisoners affiliated with the Islamic Hamas movement in response to the organization's alleged connection to the kidnapping of three Israeli teens, an Israeli official told Xinhua.

The Israeli government made the decision in a meeting attended by several security and law-enforcement ministers, yet the official did not specify how the country would do to materialize the proposal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Sunday's cabinet meeting that Hamas is behind the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers who are believed to be abducted near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

They also discussed the possibility of deporting senior members of the Hamas movement, according to the same source.

"Israel's main goal is to get the boys back," the official told Xinhua anonymously. "It is also important for the world to see the real face of Hamas and the unity government, and understand why we cannot make peace with it," he added.

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be held accountable for the safety of the three missing Israelis.

There has been an ongoing manhunt involving thousands of Israeli security forces across the West Bank since the weekend, in which nearly 200 Hamas members were arrested.

Netanyahu met with the Mideast Quartet representative Tony Blair in Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon, and said the kidnapping exposes the real face of Hamas.

He urged the international community to condemn Hamas for its terrorist actions, support Israel's right to self-defense, and call on president Abbas to end his alliance with Hamas, according to an official statement.

Abbas issued a statement on Monday in which he condemned the kidnapping of the Israeli teens for the first time.

"Both sides should refrain from violence," the statement added.

According to the Walla! news website, citing Palestinian sources, the Palestinian authority is re-thinking its unity pact with Hamas due to the incident and decided on Tuesday not to pay salaries for tens of thousands of ex-civil servants hired by the disbanded Hamas government in Gaza.