Former IDF Central District Commander Major-General Avi Mizrachi announced that since November 2013, there has been an alarming increase in attempts to abduct IDF soldiers by terrorists towards using them as negotiating pawns to obtain the release of terrorists imprisoned in Israel.

Speaking to Channel 2’s Meet the Press on motzei Shabbos, Mizrachi explained that there have been 18 attempts to abduct Israelis by Hamas and Fatah terrorists since November 2012,

Despite the sharp increase in violent attacks throughout areas of Yehuda and Shomron over recent weeks, Mizrachi does not feel that we are seeing the beginning of a third intifada. He feels “the other side is uninterested in inflaming the situation at present”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)