The cycle of questions for the Israeli security services continues for the second day in a row regarding how 6 Palestinian prisoners managed to escape from the heavily fortified Gilboa prison, without being monitored or knowing their destination.
The occupation mobilized its entire security arsenal in search and investigation operations, and the Israeli security authorities and their various services deployed dozens of checkpoints, and mobilized its members in a continuous combing campaign in search of the fleeing prisoners, but it has not yet provided clear answers about the operation to the Israeli public.
The occupation also flew drones, and the army deployed in the vicinity of the city of Jenin (in the northern occupied West Bank), from whose camp and villages the six prisoners come from.
The occupation puts forward several scenarios for the destinations that the six prisoners intended for, starting with their places of residence in Jenin or perhaps the Gaza Strip, and a third possible scenario is their attempt to cross the border to a neighboring country.
A police source told the Hebrew newspaper, Ha'aretz, on Tuesday that it was "very likely" that the men crossed into Jordan, whose border is not more than 20 kilometers from the prison.
arrests
As part of its operations, the occupation forces arrested 3 young men from the village of Naoura near Gilboa prison in Ghor Bisan (east of Marj Bin Amer), as they suspected them of having ties to the six Palestinian prisoners.
Eyewitnesses reported that large forces of the Israeli police and intelligence invaded this Arab village located within the Green Line, and conducted a combing campaign in it, including the mosque, which they suspect that some prisoners entered, changed their clothes and ate some food before leaving the village.
The Israeli security authorities and their various services also deployed dozens of checkpoints, and mobilized their members in a continuous combing campaign in search of the fleeing prisoners.
Factions warn
On the Palestinian side, the Prisoners' Committee for National and Islamic Forces warned the Israeli occupation of the repercussions of violating prisoners inside prisons.
Zaki Dababish said - in a speech on behalf of the factions, during a press conference held in Gaza City - that "harming the prisoners is a red line, and that the Palestinian people, with all their political spectrum, national forces and valiant resistance, will not stand idly by in front of the escalation of the occupation and its barbaric terrorism against the heroic prisoners."
He added that the prisoners' committee for the national and Islamic forces, and with it all the bodies and institutions concerned with prisoners, decided to remain in a permanent and continuous meeting to follow up on all developments and dangerous developments inside prisons.
The Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine also warned against imposing penalties on prisoners inside Israeli prisons, and said - in a statement - that the prison administration's administration began to practice a wide range of aggression targeting prisoners in general, and prisoners of the movement in particular.
And the Palestinian Prisoners Club said - in a statement - that the Israeli authorities took punitive measures against the detainees of Islamic Jihad, to which 5 of the fugitives belong, and the sixth is a former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (the armed arm of the Fatah movement).
Sheikh Ahmed Al-Khalil: The operation heralds a close victory (Al-Jazeera)
Official and popular acclaim
On the Palestinian front, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh praised the Palestinian prisoners' success in escaping from Israeli prison, and said that every Palestinian prisoner has the right to search for his freedom in the way he sees fit, and held Israel responsible for the prisoners' safety.
Palestinian newspapers celebrated the operation, and their headlines and their heroes made front pages.
In the Arab world, the Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al-Khalili, celebrated the success of Palestinian prisoners in escaping from Gilboa prison.
And he said in a tweet on his official account on Twitter, "What the happy fate of the abused Palestinian prisoners has provided the opportunity to get out of the strongest and most closely monitored prisons of the occupied Zionist entity, is a matter for him beyond that, as it portends God's near victory from where we do not all count."
He added, "Just as God has prepared for them a way out of that terrible prison, God, by his kindness and grace, will provide the Palestinian Muslim people with urgent means to break free from the shackles of the occupation, to recover all their stolen rights, and to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque and all Islamic sanctities from the yoke of occupation."
4,850 prisoners are held in 23 Israeli prisons and detention centers, and they suffer from numerous violations, according to Palestinian institutions concerned with prisoners.