Hamas denies denying the kidnap/murders

Haaretz reports:

Khaled Meshal, head of the Hamas political bureau, told Sky News in Arabic on Wednesday that his organization is not behind the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens in the West Bank. According to the report, Khaled asked Turkey to intervene in the crisis with Israel and to convey a message that Hamas is interested in calming things down and avoiding further military conflict with Israel.

However, after this was widely reported, Hamas officials denied the report, saying that Hamas has no information either way about the kidnapping and murder of Eyal, Gil-ad and Naftali.

Al Resalah notes that Meshal had previously told Al Jazeera that he cannot confirm nor deny Hamas' responsibility for the abductions.

It seems that in Palestinian Arab society, denying that you are responsible for the depraved kidnapping and murder of kids is a sign of weakness, and therefore must be avoided. It would be a source of shame to flatly deny such a heroic act.

Which should tell you something, if you are willing to listen.