The Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of arrests for the relatives of the six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Gilboa prison, and reinforced their presence in the West Bank and the eastern neighborhoods of occupied Jerusalem, for fear of confrontations following Palestinian calls for a day of anger in solidarity with the prisoners.

The occupation forces stormed the town of Araba in Jenin, and arrested the brothers of the prisoner Mahmoud Ardah, who managed to escape from Gilboa prison. The arrests included his sister, Basima, and his two brothers, Raed and Muhammad.

It also stormed the town of Bir al-Basha in Jenin, and arrested Youssef Qadri, the brother of the prisoner Ya'qub Qadri, who managed to escape from Gilboa prison.

In a related context, the Israeli police reinforced its presence today, Friday, in the eastern neighborhoods of occupied Jerusalem, the Old City, and in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, for fear of clashes after Friday prayers.

The Israeli occupation army also reinforced its forces in the West Bank with 4 battalions, with the possibility of summoning more of its soldiers in anticipation of an expected field escalation after Friday prayers, in light of calls by the Palestinian factions to continue protests denouncing the Israeli Prison Authority’s suppression of Palestinian prisoners.

The occupation army decided to partially cancel the weekend in some units, and prohibited its soldiers from leaving the camps.

It is scheduled that cities and towns in the West Bank will witness marches after Friday prayers in support of the prisoners in the occupation prisons and to denounce the punitive measures against them.

The West Bank witnessed marches and confrontations over the past two nights, in which participants warned against harming the six prisoners who managed to escape from Gilboa Prison using a tunnel they dug inside their cell to the outside of the prison.

The Israeli police raised its alert throughout Israel by emphasizing the northern areas to the highest degree before the state of emergency, as part of a massive search campaign for the six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Gilboa prison. The Israeli police also maintained dozens of checkpoints that it deployed in recent days.


Tension in prisons

Meanwhile, Israeli sources said that an arson attack broke out in ward No. 7 of Ramon Prison (southern Israel).

Yesterday, Thursday, the Palestinian Prisoners Club confirmed that the prisoners burned rooms in Section 7 of Ramon Prison, in refusal to continue the occupation’s prison administration in the operations of repression and abuse against them.

A state of extreme tension prevails in a number of Israeli prisons, against the backdrop of punitive measures imposed by the Prison Authority on Palestinian prisoners.

A letter signed by representatives of the prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons - received by the Palestinian Prisoners Club - stated that the occupation prisons administration began waging an all-out war on the prisoners, and decided to punish them, after failing to prevent the escape of the six prisoners, as they put it.

The letter added that the prisoners will take steps to escalate in the coming days, and they will be announced later.

The prisoners appealed to the Palestinian factions to continue the popular movement and the marches in support of them.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it had been informed of the Israeli Prison Authority's cancellation of visits by the families of Palestinian detainees during the period between 12 and 14 September, following the escalation inside the prisons.

The spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in occupied Jerusalem, Yahya Masouda, said that "the Israeli occupation authorities informed the international organization that the cancellation of visits to prisons will be for a period of 3 days."

He indicated - in an interview with Al Jazeera - that the continuation of the current situation may lead to extending the cancellation period to other periods.


Faction warning

The Palestinian factions warned the Israeli occupation authorities against the continuation of what they described as the fierce Israeli attack on the Palestinian prisoners.

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) called for Friday to be considered a "day of anger" in the face of Israel, in rejection of its violations of the rights of Palestinian detainees in its prisons.

The movement said - in a statement - that "in light of the frenzied attack against our brave prisoners carried out by the occupation, we call on the masses of our people to make Friday a day of Palestinian anger in the face of the arrogance of the occupation and its aggression against the prisoners."

The official of the Popular Front in the Gaza Strip, Jamil Mezher, stressed that the escalation will be met with an escalation, and that the factions will not stand idly by in front of the Israeli violations against the prisoners.

Mezher called - during a press conference for the Palestinian factions - the Palestinian people to provide protection for the six prisoners who were able to wrest their freedom and escape from Gilboa prison, and to continue the operations of confusion and confusion of the Israeli occupation.

The Islamic Jihad movement said that all options are open to it to defend the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons in the face of the oppression they are subjected to by the occupation authorities.

And Muhammad Shallah, a leader in the movement, warned - during a solidarity stand with the prisoners in Gaza yesterday - that the movement will not stand idly by if the six prisoners who escaped from Gilboa prison are subjected to any harm.

The "Al-Quds Brigades" (the military arm of the Islamic Jihad movement) organized a military parade on Thursday in the Gaza Strip in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Today, Palestinian institutions launched an urgent appeal to the United Nations and the international missions operating in Palestine to provide protection for prisoners in Israeli prisons.

For the third day in a row, Israel imposes punitive measures against the prisoners, including storming prisons, abusing detainees, beating detainees and transferring them to other prisons, after 6 prisoners succeeded in escaping from the heavily fortified Gilboa prison.