About 7 years after the failure of the last attempt by some Palestinian prisoners to escape from Gilboa prison, near the Baysan area, the first escape from this fortified place succeeded.

At dawn on Monday, September 6, 2021, 6 Palestinians (5 from Islamic Jihad and one from Fatah) managed to escape through a tunnel they dug in Gilboa Prison, which was built by the Irish about 17 years ago.

Fortress castle with Irish expertise

- Due to the old prison "Shata", Israel built a new prison near it, and named it Gilboa in relation to the mountainous area surrounding it.

It is an extension of Shata prison, which dates back to the Ottoman rule, in the Khan Castle built by the Ottomans, and then used by the British army during its mandate for Palestine, until Israel turned it in 1953 into a prison called Shata.

- April 2004: It was opened and it consists of 5 sections, and in each section there are 15 rooms, and each room can accommodate 8 prisoners.

It is surrounded by a 9 meter high wall.

Irish experts participated in the planning of this prison in the manner of Irish prisons in which members of the Irish secret army are detained.

The prison is surrounded by a 9-meter-high wall, with painted iron on top to be a substitute for barbed wire - which is usually found in all prisons - so its walls cannot be climbed.

– Iron was erected on all prison windows, developed in Israel, called “Nefha Iron”, which is made of iron and cement bars.

A "secret element" was inserted under the prison floor, preventing excavation.

If excavation is carried out or part of the concrete covering the prison floor is removed, the color of the room's floor will change to another color indicating an attempt to dig a trench.

It is an armed box heaven and earth.

Gilboa Prison is located in Wadi Harod, at the foot of Mount Gilboa, west of the city of Beit She'an.

The Iron Safe, Guantanamo, Israel

Gilboa Prison, one of the most fortified prisons of the occupation, is nicknamed in Israel as the “Iron Treasury” because of the tight procedures in it to prevent any attempt to escape from it.

The Palestinian prisoners call it "Israeli Guantanamo".

The number of prisoners currently inside it is about 400, including more than 70 prisoners from various organizations, whom Israel classifies as the “most dangerous security” and accuses them of carrying out operations inside the Green Line. Among them was Abbas El-Sayed, who was transferred by chance several weeks ago to another prison, Previously, Yahya Sinwar.

- June 23, 2005: Bashar Arif Bani Odeh (27 years) was martyred in Gilboa Prison as a result of medical negligence.

December 29, 2007: The Palestinian prisoner Fadi Abdel Latif Abu Al-Rub, 19, was martyred inside Gilboa prison as a result of medical negligence as well, making him the fourth Palestinian martyr in the Israeli occupation prisons in 2007 and the 74th since the beginning of 1987.

The prison witnessed 3 failed escape attempts, the last of which was in 2014, when Islamic Jihad prisoners dug a tunnel and it was discovered at the last moments, and their escape attempt was thwarted.

August 4, 2014: The Prison Administration announced that it had thwarted a mass escape attempt from Gilboa prison, after prisoners dug a tunnel from a cell toilet.

April 11, 2018: Large forces of the Special Repression Units affiliated with the Israeli occupation prisons service "Masada" stormed Section 3 of Gilboa Prison, and assaulted the prisoners.

The escape of the six prisoners is the first successful escape from this prison.