Israel: 6 Palestinians escape high-security prison, including ex-military chief
An Israeli policeman and journalists look at a hole through which Palestinians escaped from Gilboa (North) prison, September 6, 2021. AFP - JALAA MAREY
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3 min
Six Palestinian detainees managed to escape from the Israeli high security prison in Gilboa (North), in a spectacular escape, on the night of Sunday 5 to Monday 6 September.
These members of Palestinian armed groups escaped through a tunnel dug under the walls of the prison.
A manhunt is underway to find them.
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With our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Sami Boukhelifa
Helicopters and drones deployed, the Israeli army is now assisting the police in their search operations.
This escape is "
terribly embarrassing for the prison administration,
" admits an Israeli security official on one of the country's main television channels.
Because no one saw it coming, and these
Palestinian
detainees
were able to carry out their plan in peace.
Around one in the morning, the alert was given: six men were missing.
The clock is ticking and it wasn't until almost an hour later that prison guards discovered a tunnel, the excavation of which arguably took years, some Israeli media reports.
All sentenced to life in connection with deadly attacks
The six men, all sentenced to life in prison, are linked to deadly attacks on Israelis, and are considered very dangerous, officials in the Hebrew state say.
One of them is a member of
the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of
Palestinian
Fatah
.
The other five are part of Islamic Jihad.
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