While Israel has blamed Hamas for the deaths of three Israeli teens, it has so far not produced any evidence to back up its claims. Hamas has not accepted responsibility for the teens' disappearance and dismissed the Israeli allegations as "stupid".

On Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri accused Israel of fabricating the kidnapping episode as an excuse to crack down on the movement.

"The occupation is trying to use this story to justify its extensive war against our people, against resistance and against Hamas," he said.

Suspicions that Israel may have been manipulating events have been given a boost by a report in Haaretz claiming that Israel's senior spy had outlined a kidnap scenario involving three Israeli teens just days before the actual event.

According to the Haaretz article, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo was arguing against a bill that would rule out pardons for prisoners convicted on terrorism charges, stating that the bill would prevent future prisoner swaps in the case of kidnappings.

"What will you do if in a week three 14-year-old girls will be kidnapped from one of the settlements?" he asked.

Haaretz journalist Barak Ravid described the scenario as "spookily similar" to the subsequent disappearance of three teenage boys.

AFP - Reuters