12 June 2014, three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped at the bus stop at the Israeli settlement of Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion, in the West Bank, as they were hitchhiking to their homes. Along with the military search to find them, there was a international Jewish campaign to bring them home. 18 days later, the boys were found dead. Following the kidnappings and murders and the escalating firing of missiles btowards civilians in southern Israel, Operation Protective Edge began.