Large police and IDF forces are scouring the area of Judea between Kiryat Arba and the Arab village of Beit Anoun, after a 22-year-old went missing in the region. At 4:17 p.m., a call to the 100 emergency hotline of the Judea and Samaria district police was received from an Israeli youth, who said he and his friend had gotten stuck in their car due to a punctured tire between Kiryat Arba and Beit Anoun. The friend of the youth who called went to request work tools from the Arab village so as to change the tire, but never returned, and the caller said he had been waiting for half-an-hour. Police and IDF forces are combing the area for the missing man, who is a resident of southern Israel. They are treating the case as an abduction. A police source revealed that the car did not have a puncture as was claimed in the emergency phone call. The IDF confirmed this, with the twist leading police to appraise there may have been criminal motivations for the man entering the village. The search for the man is made all the more difficult given that he left his cell phone in the front seat of the car. Concerns are high that he may have been attacked or abducted by residents of the Arab village, which is known as being hostile and a hotbed to members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups. The missing man's cousin, named Meir, said "I ask of all of the people of Israel, on the eve of the Pesach (Passover - ed.) holiday, we need him back home healthy, whole and free. I ask everyone to increase their prayers." Har Hevron Regional Council head Yohai Damari said of the massive deployment for the search that it is "a measure familiar to us from similar incidents that occurred in the region just recently." "I imagine that we'll receive a clearer picture in the coming hours," said Damari. "I pray for good news." The incident comes just hours after an Arab terrorist stabbed an IDF soldier in the arm and head at the O ranit Checkpoint in Samaria. Despite having been stabbed repeatedly the soldier, First Sergeant Yoav Leitman of the Paratroopers Regiment, managed to grapple the terrorist to the ground and subdue him.
