Palestinians from the village of Pher, near the West Bank city of Nablus, claimed on Monday that a grocery store owner in the Petach Tikva area was holding hostage three of their family members.
According to their claim, a Palestinian from the village of Thulth, adjacent to Pher, stole some NIS 30,000 (about $8,000) from the grocery store, and therefore the owner locked the three Palestinians in the shop until the money is returned to him. The three are two brothers and their cousin.
Ramy Tourabi, who claimed his two brothers were being held hostage, told Ynet that his relatives "have nothing to do with the incident and the theft. We are demanding that they be released immediately and are extremely concerned for their wellbeing."
The police said they received no complaint about hostages being held in the store. The owner of the grocery shop related a different story, and said he called the police to the scene. Afterwards, he denied the incident ever occurred.
Raanan Ben-Zur contributed to the report