Police and IDF forces were called in the early hours to the Palestinian village of Hizma after a report that an Israeli minor had allegedly been abducted along with two others. Two minors, both around 15, and a 40-year-old man, all residents of Jerusalem, were located shortly afterward in good health and without injuries.
In a call to the police control room, one of those involved could be heard saying, “Get here quickly, we’re being abducted." Following the report, numerous units from the Jerusalem District, IDF forces and additional security personnel were dispatched to the area. Police said the forces used technological and operational measures in an effort to locate the three. Officers from the Binyamin Station eventually found them near the village, and they were taken to the police station for questioning.
During the investigation, however, police said a different picture emerged from the one described in the emergency call. According to police, the three had entered the Palestinian village voluntarily to spend time there. They allegedly became concerned about the consequences of their actions and then reported to the emergency center that they had been abducted. The three were questioned under caution on suspicion of making a false criminal report and violating a lawful order concerning entry into a Palestinian village. They were later brought before a court and released under restrictive conditions. Police said the investigation remains ongoing.
Police in the Jerusalem District stressed the operational significance of false abduction reports, explaining that every such report is initially treated as genuine and handled according to a worst-case scenario. According to the district, a reported abduction can trigger the rapid deployment of numerous police and IDF units, along with intelligence, operational and technological resources. Such incidents can also divert personnel and resources from other missions while security forces work to locate the people believed to be in danger.
Police said the incident also demonstrated the importance of close cooperation between the Jerusalem District Police and the IDF Central Command, as well as the need for rapid joint action. One of the lessons identified by the district was the potential need for a shared inter-agency operations room involving the police, IDF and other security bodies, allowing for a unified situational picture, better coordination and faster decision-making.
The district also linked the incident to joint preparations and exercises ahead of the holidays, as well as lessons learned from the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in 2014.