"This evening, we found three bodies and all the signs indicate that they are the bodies of our three kidnapped youngsters," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers at the start of an emergency session of his security cabinet on Monday.
"After several hours the cabinet session ended without further public comment and public radio said ministers would reconvene on Tuesday evening.
A senior Hamas official warned Israel against reprisals, saying it would open "the gates of hell". The discovery of the three bodies in a field in the southern West Bank came 17 days after the youngsters disappeared, triggering a huge manhunt during which five Palestinians were killed and more than 400 arrested.
Two Hebron Hamas men named by Israel as prime suspects -- Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Eishe -- remain at large but Palestinian witnesses said troops blew up their homes early Tuesday.
The Israeli roundup -- mainly of people linked to Hamas -- brought a wave of rocket attacks against southern Israel by militants in the Gaza Strip, answered in turn by Israeli air strikes.
The latest round began around 1:00 am Tuesday (2200 GMT Monday) with a rocket slamming into open ground in the Negev desert region.
An army statement said nobody was hurt. Shortly afterwards the Palestinian interior ministry reported around 30 Israeli air strikes on deserted militant training sites across Gaza but there was no immediate word of casualties.
The ministry said that among targets hit by F-16 fighters were bases of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.- ´Found at the end of the world´ -The youngsters´ bodies were found in the southern West Bank near the town of Halhul, some 10 minutes drive from the roadside where they were last seen hitchhiking.
"During the search for Eyal Ifrach, Gilad Shaer and Naftali Frankel, the IDF discovered three bodies," the Israeli army said on Twitter.
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