The most important investigation unit in the Israeli police is leading the task of investigating the circumstances of the escape of 6 Palestinian prisoners from Gilboa prison, while the Israeli occupation army announced yesterday evening, Wednesday, the deployment of new military reinforcements to track the prisoners.
The Local and International Crimes Investigation Unit in the Israeli Police investigated the circumstances of the prisoners’ escape. This morning, the jailers will continue to testify about the circumstances and failures that led to the escape, which broke the prestige of the Israeli Prison Service and the myth of the security system in Israeli prisons.
The unit, which is the most important investigative unit in the Israeli police, seeks to find any evidence about the jailers providing assistance to the prisoners or the failure to implement the instructions of the Prisons Authority.
The Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Omer Bar-Lev, said that the investigation is continuing to determine whether the prisoner escape involved criminal offenses inside the prison walls.
He added that efforts are continuing to correct the failures that led to the prisoners' escape, and it is expected that the prison commander will be held accountable in the coming days as the primary responsible for implementing and managing the prison's instructions.
Prisoner visits canceled
On the other hand, the Red Cross informed the families of the Palestinian prisoners of canceling the visits until the end of this month due to the events in the prisons.
A state of extreme tension prevails in a number of Israeli prisons, against the backdrop of punitive measures imposed by the Prison Authority.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club said that the occupation authorities summoned forces from the army to suppress the prisoners in the Negev prison.
Prisoners set fire to a number of rooms in Megiddo Prison, after the occupation authorities attempted to transfer Islamic Jihad prisoners and distribute them to prisons.
The Prisoner's Club reported that the prison administration requested a dialogue session with the representative of the prisoners in the Negev prison, in the presence of Minister of Internal Security Omer Bar-Lev.
Palestinian areas witnessed several marches and vigils in solidarity with the prisoners in light of the oppression they are subjected to from the Israeli occupation authorities.
On the other hand, the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip said that the resistance options are open to respond to any Israeli aggression against the Palestinian prisoners.
The coordinator of the national and Islamic forces in Gaza, Khaled al-Batsh, stressed that what he described as the Israeli attack on the prisoners will not pass without a strong and firm response, as he put it.
Military reinforcements
For its part, the Israeli army announced yesterday evening, Wednesday, the deployment of new military reinforcements in the occupied West Bank to hunt down the six Palestinian prisoners.
The occupation army said in a press statement that after assessing the security situation, it was decided to reinforce the military forces in the West Bank "with combat units and air monitoring units to help arrest security detainees and prevent terrorist attacks."
The Israeli authorities have launched a large-scale search - since last Monday - for the six prisoners after escaping from the high-security Gilboa prison, after they made a hole in the bathroom of their cell.
Among the escapees is Zakaria al-Zubaidi, a former leader in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), while the other five belong to the Islamic Jihad movement.