Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Missing Israeli Soldier Lured to Death in West Bank

An Israeli soldier has been killed by a Palestinian who lured him to a village in the West Bank and wanted to trade the soldier’s body for the release of his imprisoned brother, Israeli security officials said on Saturday.

The soldier, who went missing on Friday, drove together with the man, who had previously worked with him in an Israeli restaurant, to a village near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Israel’s military said in a statement.

In the early morning, Israeli forces raided the area and arrested the 42-year-old Palestinian.

The military said that, during his interrogation, the man admitted to killing the soldier and said that “the motive for murdering the soldier was to trade his body for his brother’s release”.

The man’s brother had been arrested in 2003 for involvement in a number of militant attacks.

One security source said the soldier was off duty. It is common for soldiers who are off duty to have civilian jobs.

The investigation was continuing and more arrests were expected, the statement said.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version