(JNS.org) U.S. leaders condemned the murders of three Israeli teens, one of whom was an American citizen, while Congressional leaders called on the Palestinian unity government to be dissolved.  “The news of the murder of these three Israeli teenagers—Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrach—is simply devastating. We all had so much hope that this story would not end this way,” Secretary of State John Kerry said.

“As a father, I cannot imagine the indescribable pain that the parents of these teenage boys are experiencing.  The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of terror against innocent youth,” said President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Congressional leaders said that the murders were evidence that the Palestinian unity government between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party and the terror group Hamas, which is suspected of being behind the murders, should be dissolved. “If it is determined that Hamas is behind this horrific tragedy, Abu Mazen (Abbas) must immediately break up the unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization,” said U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chairwoman of the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, and Ted Deutch (D-FL), ranking member of the same committee. Ros-Lehtinen and Deutch were in Israel as part of a Congressional fact-finding mission and were originally scheduled to meet with the families of the teens on Tuesday before news broke that the teens’ bodies were found.