Kidnapping innocent children is a repugnant crime. While the three Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas remain captive, the State of Israel is entirely justified in pursuing extensive searches to locate and rescue them.

Common sense would direct that these searches include where the attack took place and where it originated, as well as the full ambit of whatever further leads may arise to track those who organised and carried out this heinous crime.

Rather than seeking to compel the State of Israel to reduce the ambit of its determined and intensive searches for the children, the Palestinian population of Qalandiya and other areas affected by the searches should instead seek to compel the Palestinian Authority to cancel its unity agreement with the terrorist organisation of Hamas.