This Monday, 6 Palestinian prisoners managed to escape from the Israeli Gilboa prison, through a tunnel dug under the prison, according to media sources.
The sources stated that five (5) of the prisoners who escaped from Gilboa prison belong to the “Islamic Jihad” movement, while the sixth belongs to the “Al-Aqsa Brigades”, the military arm of the (Fatah) movement. Sentences to life imprisonment (for life).
The occupation forces are searching for the six prisoners who were in the same cell, using helicopters and drones. They have also set up roadblocks on the main roads and adjacent residential communities, and have used the police dogs unit in the search process.
Media reports revealed that the Prison Authority administration is working to transfer about 400 prisoners from Gilboa prison to other prisons in the coming hours, after the incident, for fear of other tunnels that will be used to escape more prisoners.
The length of the tunnel dug by the Palestinian prisoners is tens of meters, and the opening of the tunnel was discovered a few meters outside the prison walls.
Various media reports highlighted that “the incident is embarrassing, and one of the most serious security incidents, because the escape operation was planned for a long time without the Prison Authority being able to detect it.”
The incident was praised by Palestinian factions and human rights organizations concerned with prisoners’ affairs, as Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab described it as “a heroic act that will severely shake the Israeli security system.”
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), through its spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, said that “extorting the freedom of the prisoners, despite the security procedures and complications, is a brave act and a victory for their will and determination.”
For his part, the Director General of the Prisoners’ Club, Abdullah Zaghari, explained that the incident came as a result of “the injustice that prisoners are subjected to in prisons and they plan in any way to get rid of the abusive measures committed against them.”
Joy prevailed in the Palestinian city of Jenin, as well as on social networking sites, to celebrate the escape of Palestinian prisoners, and their ability to strike the plans of the Israeli occupation, and escape from its brutality in prisons.
It is noteworthy that the Gilboa prison, which is built in the form of a fortified fortress, is located in the north of occupied Palestine, in the city of Bisan in particular, which is famous for its fertile plain. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were held in it, after extensive arrest campaigns during the years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
The Israeli occupation detains more than 4,000 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons, including 41 female prisoners, 225 children, and 550 administrative detainees, according to official Palestinian figures.
