With frequent pauses in international flights to Israel throughout the war, human trafficking gangs have begun transporting women through the Jordanian border for a life of prostitution in Israel, according to an investigation reported on by N12.
The women are promised luxury apartments in Tel Aviv, high salaries of up to NIS 65,000 monthly and a secure future - but are being met with a very different reality.
The victims are taken mainly from Eastern Europe and South America, countries upended by war and or extreme poverty. According to a report by the Assaf Association, an aid organization for refugees and asylum seekers in Israel, about 850 Ukrainian women have been forced into prostitution in Israel since the beginning of the war.
"Right now, you can only enter through Jordan," a recruiter reportedly told a Russian citizen in a Telegram conversation. "You will need to purchase plane tickets to Jordan. We will finance a six-day stay in a hotel in Amman, which costs about $500, and we will also pay for food and the bus to Israel. You must have at least $1,000 to cross the border."
Promises of a better life
Despite promises of a stable future, the women are reportedly being met with poverty and violence. Survivors reported being forced to live on minuscule wages in Bat Yam, a neighborhood south of Tel Aviv known for its large Russian community.
One ad, written in Russian, promises an 80% success rate in crossing from the Jordanian border, while others brag of having no problems with local police.
While the ads promise safety, The Jerusalem Post has reported on countless times where illegally crossing the border has proven fatal. An Indian national was killed earlier this year by Jordanian security forces while attempting to cross into Israel with hopes of finding employment.
Experts have also warned that entering through the border crossing is particularly dangerous for young women as it involves traveling through a remote, isolated route. Women from Ethiopia were reportedly exploited while attempting that same journey.
Additionally, while the ads promise ease, women who made the journey shared on Telegram that entering Israel had not been an easy task.
"There is complete chaos at the airport, and it is absolutely not certain that you will be allowed in. People were stuck there for two days and had to sleep there," wrote one of the women.
Another woman added that "the border in the field is a lottery.”
Other women warned that border security checked their phones, looking into their private messages for any indication of a potential issue.