IDF troops rescue missing cabbie from Ramallah area   
 
By Amos Harel
16/07/2003 04:15 
 
An elite Israel Defense Forces unit located missing cab driver 
Eliyahu Gurel alive near the West Bank city of Ramallah late 
Tuesday night. 

Close to midnight, special forces located Gurel, who had been 
missing since Friday afternoon, in an abandoned building in 
Bitouniyah, west of Ramallah. Soldiers from the crack Sayeret 
Matkal unit broke into the building, to find Gurel alone and 
bound, after his captors apparently fled.
 
Not one shot was fired, and Gurel was taken to safety. 

Earlier, fighters of the police counter-terror unit together 
with the undercover Duvdevan unit succeeded in arresting four 
people who had been involved in the kidnapping as well as a 
number of accomplices. Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Major General 
Gabi Ashkenazi said that all of Gurel's kidnappers had been 
arrested. According to one report, the abductors revealed Gurel's 
location to them. 

The troops transferred Gurel to the Ofer camp, where he was 
checked by a military doctor. He was then taken to hospital for 
additional medical tests. He was later taken to his home in 
Ramat Gan. 

None of the soldiers were hurt in the action. 

"I've gone through four very difficult days," Gurel said while 
in hospital in Jerusalem early Wednesday morning. "Yesterday 
I walked for three or four hours, and my knee was hurt. In recent 
days I slept on planks of wood in a basement or in a pit, seven 
meters under ground. I picked up the kidnappers outside the airport 
in Lod. They asked that I take them from Lod to Jerusalem. 

"When we got to Jerusalem, they directed me to the French Hill 
junction in Beit Hanina. There they threatened me with a knife, 
and I didn’t put up a fight. 

"The kidnappers were two men, and a women, and a 4-year-old girl 
was also there. They treated me very well, and spoke to me in 
Hebrew. I didn’t tell them that I understand Arabic and could 
understand what they were saying to each other. They were not 
drug addicts. He [one of the kidnappers] said that he would 
request the release of prisoners in exchange for my release. 
I understood that he had been a prisoner as well." 

The rescue mission was overseen by Brigadier General Gadi Eisenkot, 
the commander of IDF forces in the West Bank. Both Israeli and
Palestinian security forces had taken part in the search efforts, 
and the IDF had placed Ramallah and Bitouniyah under closure on
Monday. 

Speaking about the moment of his release, Gurel said, "I was very 
excited. I heard voices and noises when I was in the pit, seven 
meters under ground." 

Gurel said that he tried to escape from the pit on Tuesday afternoon, 
but when he tried to remove the weights placed over the pit, 
the kidnappers noticed, and prevented his escape. Gurel also claimed 
that no one was watching him at the moment of the rescue. 

According to sources involved in the operation, the kidnappers had 
been making contradicting demands in various phone calls. At times 
the kidnappers asked for money, then they demanding the release of 
all Palestinian prisoners, and at times they demanded the release 
of only some of the prisoners. 

Gurel's wife, Hanna, said early Wednesday morning that, "These days 
have been the hardest of my life. We didn’t sleep. We are tired
and spent. Thank God that my husband is alive, and I hope that he 
is safe and sound. We have outstanding police, army, and Shin Bet 
forces. They are the precious people who brought my husband back." 

Liat, Gurel's 34-year-old daughter, exited the family's home in 
Ramat Gan late Tuesday and told reporters and others who had 
gathered at the scene, "I thank everyone, and am eager to see 
my father." 

Gurel's sister, Zvia Ben Ami told reporters, "Shortly after midnight, 
we were contacted by phone and informed of the successful rescue
operation. I thank everyone, especially the security forces, 
who did an outstanding job. I thank everyone who prayed with us. 
Today we can finally stop crying."