Israeli officials reported today the first cases of an abduction of an Israeli by Egyptians since the 1956 Sinai campaign.
Egyptian soldiers seized Moshe Ben-Shitreet, a member of the Afikim border settlement, near the Gaza Strip, while he was working in the field. Fellow-workers reported that an Egyptian military half-track vehicle crossed the border into the field. Several armed soldiers jumped out and forced the settler into the vehicle and then drove back across the border.
The witnesses rushed back to the settlement to report the abduction. The incident was made public after Israel authorities were assumed to have been officially informed through United Nations Emergency Force headquarters that the settler was being held by the Egyptians.
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