Palestinian President's wife treated in Israel hospital

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The wife of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has been treated in an Israeli hospital, media reported Sunday, as Israel searched for teenagers believed to be held captive in Palestinian territory.

Israeli news site Ynet said Mrs Amina Abbas was admitted to the private Assuta hospital in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

She underwent surgery on her leg before being discharged on Sunday. The hospital refused to comment on the report, Ynet said.

Mr Abbas is not the only Palestinian leader to prefer Israeli medical facilities for family members. Earlier this month, the mother-in-law of former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya was allowed into Israel from Gaza for cancer treatment.

In November, his granddaughter was taken to an Israeli hospital to be treated for an infection in her digestive tract.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had on Saturday held Mr Abbas responsible for the safe return of three youths that Israel said were abducted by the Islamist Hamas movement.

Gilad Shaer, 16, Naftali Frenkel, 16, and Eyal Ifrach, 19 disappeared on Thursday night, 10 days after the establishment of a new Palestinian government of technocrats pieced together by Abbas's Fatah movement and Hamas.

On Sunday, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said "many indications point to Hamas' involvement" in their kidnapping.

Palestinian security in the West Bank was cooperating with Israeli forces in its efforts to find the youths, which included detaining 80 Palestinians overnight - many of them Hamas members.

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