Two Israeli girls with American citizenship who were allegedly kidnapped last week by their mother were successfully rescued by Israel Police forces on Tuesday morning.
The mother, who is the main suspect in the case, was arrested at the scene. Her arrest was extended later on Tuesday.
The girls, 12-year-old Sarah and eight-year-old Liva, disappeared without a trace on Friday in what police feared could be a divorce dispute-related kidnapping.
Following their disappearance an accelerated police investigation was conducted, and the girls were located along with their mother at an apartment in Kiryat Yam.
A special task force appointed by the Central District Police Commander, Superintendent Avi Biton, worked with police negotiators to conduct a complex and covert investigation in order to locate the girls and their mother.
The investigation led to the discovery of an apartment in Kiryat Yam where the two minors were held, and at 2:30 a.m., they were successfully recovered from the scene.
The mother is set to appear at a court hearing later in the day on Tuesday in order for her detention to be extended.
Father raises alarm on missing daughters
The two girls were reported missing during their first-ever visit to Israel, which was supposed to be a 10-day trip to visit their mother and grandmother in Gedera. However, their father, Ofer, a dual Israeli-US national raised the alarm after receiving worrying messages from his oldest daughter, Sara.
After arriving in Israel in order to bring the girls back to the US, Ofer discovered that his daughters had vanished without a trace. He soon filed a report to the Israel Police.
Furthermore, a few hours after their disappearance, the mother and girls’ phone numbers appeared to have been disconnected.
When attempting to make contact with the grandmother, the father was told that she was vacationing in Tiberias and had no knowledge of her grandchildren’s whereabouts.
The girls are considered kidnapped as per a Pennsylvania court decision, which approved the 10-day vacation in Israel under strict conditions stating that any violation of the court agreement would be viewed as kidnapping.
This is a developing story.