Ten former IDF soldiers rescued a US citizen and her two-and-a-half-year-old son from a Palestinian village in the Tulkarm area where they had been held captive for three years, Israel Radio revealed on Wednesday morning.

The woman, who had married a young Palestinian man she met in the United States, was being held in his house, together with their son, according to the radio report.

The man's first wife and four children from his first marriage also lived in the house. The woman's husband allegedly hit her, prevented her from leaving the house threatening her that if she succeeded in escaping, she would never see their son again. He also warned her that if she left the home, she would be arrested by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

After efforts to bring about the woman's release by contacting Palestinian Authority officials failed, the woman's parents contacted a Jewish American man who had served in an elite IDF combat unit. He contacted friends in Israel, and they planned the rescue operation for several weeks, gathering intelligence on the family's routine.

The rescue was successfully carried out on Monday, with no one hurt, according to the radio.

Mother and son were taken to the US Consulate in Jerusalem and left for Ohio on Tuesday.

"Giora," one of the men who took part in the rescue, told Israel Radio that while the IDF had not been aware of the operation, the US Consulate was updated about every step of the mission.

"The rescue mission was planned in a similar way to operations carried out during my time in the military, in a way that ensured no lives were endangered," Giora said.

The family promised a financial reward to the men for freeing their daughter, Giora said, insisting, however, that "We didn't do it for the money."

There was no immediate response from the US Consulate.

JerusalemPost