Just weeks after releasing Gilad Schalit in a prisoner swap with Hamas and
fearing future abductions of soldiers, the IDF held a largescale exercise in the
Jordan Valley to prepare a response to the potential kidnapping of a
soldier.
Chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. Benny Gantz oversaw the drill,
which took place throughout the Jordan Valley with the purpose of reviewing the
readiness of Division 162, which is stationed along the border.
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The
scenario included a soldier being abducted by Palestinian terrorists and moved
between a number of vehicles as well as a number of villages in the Jordan
Valley area. On the sidelines of the kidnapping, the scenario included a
terrorist infiltration into an Israeli settlement in the area.
IDF
sources said the drill was part of the military’s annual exercise regimen and
was aimed at preparing the soldiers for the wide range of scenarios they could
encounter during deployments in the West Bank.
“This is the first type of
drill at the General Staff level in a number of years and is a result of
warnings and alerts that we have about plans to kidnap soldiers,” explained Col.
Shlomi Fayer, from the IDF Ground Forces Command.
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