Israeli Forensic Expert: Murdered teens put up 'serious' fight against captors

“One of the abducted youths put up a serious fight against his captors,” a source connected to the forensic examinations of the bodies of the three teens, told Israel’s Walla News on June 30.

The families of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Frankel, 16, eulogized their sons in separate ceremonies in their communities, Elad, Talmon, and Nof Ayalon.

Yifrach “died a hero,” his grandfather Ezra, said in his eulogy.

“He didn’t go like a lamb to the slaughter,” he said, according to The Times of Israel. All three youths had “glorified the name of God,” he said. “You united Israel for the first time in many years.”

“We’d hoped they’d be found alive,” he told the Israeli Walla news site. “But since we were informed, it’s been really hard within the family, among friends, and among all of the House of Israel,” he said.

The three were buried side by side at the cemetery in Modi’in, northwest of Jerusalem exactly 24 hours after they were discovered by searchers, hidden beneath stones in a shallow grave near Halhoul.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the funerals.