Sept. 7 (UPI) — Authorities are hoping to recapture six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from an Israeli jail while a security guard was sleeping, authorities said Tuesday.
The breakout occurred on Monday at Gilboa Prison in northern Israel near the border with the West Bank.
Officials have identified the escaped inmates as Mondal Ainfaat, Mahmad Aardiya, Muhammed Aardiya, Yakub Kadari and Iham Kamagi of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and Zakaria Zubeidi of Fatah, formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement.
Israeli forces are focusing their search in the West Bank town of Jenin, Zubeidi’s hometown that has strong support for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
While the six have been described by Israeli authorities as terrorists, their escape has been celebrated in occupied Palestinian territories and on social media.
Officials are investigating the logistics of the escape. Early findings indicate that the break occurred as one prison guard was asleep in a watchtower.
The Palestinian Prisoner Society called on the Red Cross and human rights organizations to protect Palestinian prisons from possible retaliatory measures.
The PSS said Tuesday that Israeli officials have started separating Palestinian prisoners in Gilboa and canceled some inmate privileges.
Palestinian news outlet WAFA reported that authorities have also started interrogating Islamic Jihad members in the prison.
Officials suspect the six escaped to Jordan, and have deployed additional troops along Israel’s border with the country. They say there’s also the possibility that they split up to make them more difficult to catch.