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

Three women brought out in two separate incidents after entering Palestinian Authority-controlled city that is off limits to Israelis

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

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

“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 said, referring to the Palestinian Authority.

The Civil Administration said that according to a preliminary investigation, the woman is a soldier currently doing 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 said it received another report of two Israeli women speaking Hebrew in an upscale neighborhood of Jericho.

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

The two women were set to be questioned by the police, and the soldier was expected to be questioned by the Military Police. Israelis are barred from entering parts of the West Bank designated as Area A, which are controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

Under the 1995 Oslo II Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank is divided into Area A, under full Palestinian control, Area B, under Israeli security control and Palestinian civilian control, and Area C, under full Israeli control.

Israelis have been repeatedly evacuated from Area A in the last year, and PA security forces have assisted in such extractions more than a dozen times, mainly in cases where Israelis mistakenly entered the area.