Israel: army appeals to families of Palestinians escaped from Israeli jail
A relative of one of the six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from the Israeli prison in Gilboa, stands next to a banner showing him with another prisoner, near his home in the village of Arabah, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, September 8, 2021. AFP - JAAFAR ASHTIYEH
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Two days after the escape of six Palestinian detainees from an Israeli prison, the Jewish state is trying to understand how these six prisoners managed to dig a tunnel out of this high security prison in Gilboa, in the north of the country. .
Israeli forces apprehended family members of the fugitives.
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Sami Boukhelifa
Humiliated by a spectacular escape - a tunnel dug with a teaspoon in a prison deemed inviolable - the Israeli forces deploy significant means to try to find the fugitives: helicopters, drones and now arrests of the brothers, fathers or friends of the six escapees.
Qadura Fares, president of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, an association for the defense of the rights of detainees, strongly condemns "
these unjustified arrests
", according to him.
► To read also: Israel: six Palestinians escape from a high security prison, including a former military chief
“
It's a policy of collective punishment,
” he said.
If the Israelis suspect you of potentially being able to provide assistance to these detainees, they arrest you and make you believe they have information about you.
But in reality, they mostly want to collect information.
"
"
It's pure blackmail
"
The mobile phones of family members of the fugitives were reportedly seized by the Israeli authorities as part of the investigation.
According to Qaddura Fares, of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, the arrest of relatives has a very specific objective: "
To attack the families is to put pressure on the fleeing prisoners to push them to surrender, to force them to reconsider. the situation.
It is pure blackmail.
Arresting loved ones is neither more nor less than a means of pressure.
"
A vast hunt is carried out by the Israeli security forces.
Their fear is that the six fugitives will cross into neighboring Jordan or try to reach Gaza.
► To read also: Gaza: resurgence of deadly tension along the separation wall with Israel
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Israel
Palestinian territories
Israelo-Palestinian conflict