Associated Press
JERUSALEM — The army has barred soldiers serving in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from accepting pizza deliveries they did not order themselves, for fear the packages might be booby-trapped, the army said Wednesday.
Last month, Israeli pizzerias began delivering to soldiers via an Internet site where people place the orders as gifts for soldiers.
More than 4,000 pizzas have been sent, said Shimon Aharon, a British-born Israeli reservist who created the Web site.
Ninety percent of the pizzas were sent by Americans, with the remainder coming from Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand.
The site allows people to send "Pizza and Pepsi for a patrol" or order up to six pizzas to feed an entire platoon. Several restaurants in Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza deliver the pizzas to army bases, foot patrols and military checkpoints.
This week, however, military commanders decided to bar soldiers from accepting pizzas they did not order, "due to concern that hostile elements may exploit the pizza deliveries to soldiers," the army said in a statement.
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