Off-duty IDF soldier, two Israeli women extracted from West Bank’s Jericho

An off-duty IDF servicewoman and two other Jewish Israeli women were extracted from the West Bank city of Jericho in separate incidents last night and early this morning.

The Civil Administration, a branch of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator for Government Affairs in the Territories (COGAT), says that last night it received a report of an Israeli woman wandering around Jericho “while endangering her well-being.”

“Upon receiving the report, officers from the Jordan Valley District Coordination and Liaison office acted to provide immediate protection to the Israeli and at the same time, to transfer her to the security forces through coordination channels,” the Civil Administration says, referring to the Palestinian Authority.

The Civil Administration says that, according to a preliminary investigation, the woman is a soldier in her mandatory service, who had entered Jericho with an Arab Israeli friend to celebrate a birthday in the Palestinian city.

Several hours later, in the early hours of Saturday, the Civil Administration says it received another report of two Israeli women speaking Hebrew in an upscale neighborhood of Jericho.

“The security establishment worked to extract them immediately, and hand them over to the security forces,” the Civil Administration says, adding that the pair told Israeli forces that they had entered Jericho to meet with friends that they had made during a trip to the Sinai Peninsula.

The two women are set to be questioned by the police, and the soldier will be questioned by the Military Police, as Israelis are barred from entering West Bank areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.