A group of five female IDF soldiers were left behind in the field overnight recently, after battalion commanders forgot them following an operation in the Jordan Valley near the border with Jordan.
According to a report Sunday by Kan, the five female soldiers were accidently left behind in a grove in the Jordan Valley one night for roughly three hours, with no radios, cellular phones, or other communication devices.
After being forgotten in the grove, the group of soldiers made their way to a nearby road – only to be chased by a gang of Palestinian Authority residents driving in two vehicles.
The five soldiers were chased by the gang for some 20 minutes. During the chase, the soldiers reportedly attempted to hide behind several trees, and called out to the gang to stop chasing them, to no effect. At one point, the Arabs managed to steal three of the soldiers’ helmets.
The two vehicles drove off only when one of the soldiers drew her weapon and pointed it at her pursuers, causing them to flee, with the helmets still in their possession. According to the report, up until that point, the soldiers had been unable to remove barrel blockers from their weapons and prepare them for use.
Eventually, the five soldiers reached a gas station, and from their called their commander and arranged to be brought back to base.
According to an IDF spokesperson, the incident, which occurred at the beginning of last week, is under investigation. In the meantime, both the soldiers and their commanding officers have been reprimanded.
“As a result [of the incident], the soldiers and their commanders have been reprimanded. The mission briefing was not given to the soldiers properly, and during the incident the soldiers did not behave in the manner expected of combat soldiers.”