(Ma'an) – Israeli authorities said they were investigating reports of the capture of a soldier near Ben Gurion International Airport, in the center of the country, on Thursday evening."The matter is being investigated," a military source told Ma'an when asked about the report.Meanwhile, a previously unknown group calling itself the "Al-Quds Army" claimed responsibility for the reported capture in a statement sent to Ma'an."A group of our resistance fighters captured a Zionist soldier near Ben Gurion Airport and withdrew along with the soldier without incident … We will provide details about the captured soldier later," the statement said.
The ban on publication appeared to have been lifted by about 8pm Thursday night. Soon after, the Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israel's military and police had known about the apparent abduction since noon on Thursday, and that a soldier was thought to have been forced into a car at an intersection near an air force base close to the Tel Aviv-area airport. Shortly thereafter, the Jerusalem Post reported that helicopters and ground troops were operating near the suspected site of the abduction. It added by nightfall police had begun to remove roadblocks, which the paper said had been set up not only in Israel but in the West Bank, as well. Immediately following the Post's report, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz quoted an Israeli military statement explaining that a report had been filed by a witness to the capture. The country's military and Shin Bet intelligence services were looking into the reports, Haaretz said.
Earlier on Thursday, reliable Israeli sources told Ma'an that a state of security alert prevailed inside Israel in response to a phone call from a soldier who said he had been abducted. Later, Israel's Channel 10 quoted a female soldier who said she had witnessed the capture of a male soldier. The station also said the army had begun calling all soldiers to report to officers as an accounting measure to determine whether or not anyone was missing.
