Chances slim 3 settlers taken to Gaza

Israeli security forces continued combing through the Hebron area on Saturday. They claim the three missing were transferred to either Jordan or the Gaza Strip. Even so, chances that the three settlers are no longer in the West Bank are viewed as very low, according to Ynet.

"I think there's a very small chance" the teens are no longer in the West Bank, former security chief and current member of parliament Omer Bar-Lev told Ynet.

"We have a separation barrier in the Jordan Valley, a security fence around the Gaza Strip. Chances are they are (in the West Bank) but not necessarily in the 'Hebron' (al-Khalil) area," he said.

Former Deputy Director of Shin Bet, Yisrael Hasson whi is currently a member of the parliament says that when Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman was kidnapped in 1994, there were also assessments he had been transferred to another area, which later proved to be wrong. "The entire defense system was looking at Gaza, and eventually the kidnappers were tracked down to" the West Bank.
On the possibility the three teens were taken to Jordan, Hasson noted that he "wasn't sure Jordan is safer for them than Tel Aviv. Jordan is a sovereign state with a strong intelligence apparatus and a clear message - no one will embarrass us."

Ynet's military analyst Ron ben Yishai too said the chances the three were taken to Gaza were slim.