A realistic version of "The Shawshank Redemption"? On 6 September, six Palestinians dug tunnels from a highly guarded Israeli prison to escape. All they use is a "rusty spoon." They hid the rusty spoon behind the poster and used the spoon to dig out a passage from the cell to the sewer.
According to Al Jazeera reported on September 6, in the early morning of the 6th, six Palestinian prisoners escaped from Gilboa Prison in northern Israel. Gilboa Prison is one of the highest security prisons in Israel. Al Jazeera said such escapes were "very rare."
According to the Jerusalem Post, preparations took a total of one year, of which excavations took a month. They hid the rusty spoon behind the poster, dug a tunnel in the toilet with the spoon, and hid the hole under the floor.
The opening of the cave where 6 prisoners escaped from the prison is pictured from the video screenshot
It is worth mentioning that the exit of the tunnel is directly below the watchtower, but the guards of the post were asleep at the time and did not notice that the prisoners escaped.
Tunnel exit courtesy of Al Jazeera
It is reported that they appear to have received external assistance. Investigators believe that after escaping from the ground, the prisoners quickly changed their clothes and then fled to a place three kilometers from the prison, where a car was waiting for them. There, the group split into two groups, and some of the prisoners got into the car.
Search operations are currently under way. Police, the Israeli Security Service, the Border Police and two IDF forces, as well as special forces, are participating in the manhunt operation, with some 200 checkpoints set up throughout Israel to capture fugitives. Security forces also arranged for police dogs and air support to participate in the search.
"Our goal is to capture them. As long as they are possible in Israel. He said.
An IDF spokesman said west Bank forces had been alerted to escape from prison and were on high alert.
Two of the escapees have fled to Jordan, while two of the four remaining in Israel are hiding in the town of Druze on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Police are also investigating the possibility that the escapees may have managed to escape to Jenin.
Israeli security forces patrol near Jenin. Pictured from Agence France-Presse
The Israel Prisons Authority released the identities of six escaped prisoners.
One of the prisoners was Zakariye zubeidi, 46, a former Fatah party leader in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, who organized multiple terrorist attacks that killed many Israelis.
Zubedi was arrested by israel's security service in 2019 after intelligence that he was planning a terrorist attack in the West Bank and two shooting attacks on Israeli buses in beit el and psagot in the West Bank.
He was once considered a "symbol of resistance against Israel", but gave up belligerence a decade ago and was lenient by Israel after agreeing to give up his weapons.
The other five escapees are munadil nafayat, iham kahamji, yaquob qadiri and brothers Mahmoud and Mohammed al-Arida. They are all members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and come from towns near Jenin.
At least 4 people have been sentenced to life imprisonment for their involvement in attacks against Israelis.
Six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison. Pictured from the Israeli Prison Media Office
Qadura fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, described the escape as a victory over Israel's security system.
"We are happy with this escape. We call for the need to liberate all Palestinian prisoners. If prisoners are able to release themselves, that's a great thing. Fars, who has been serving 18 years in prison, told Al Jazeera.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawood Shehab described the escape as a "heroic act," calling it a "heavy blow" to the Israeli army and Israel's entire "security apparatus."
"It's been a long and open struggle... The occupiers must understand this lesson well, and our people will never surrender. Shehab said in a statement.
"Terrorism [in Israel] cannot undermine the will of our people." He added.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the jailbreak a "serious incident" in a statement and said he was regularly receiving updates on the searches.
According to the prisoners' rights group Adameer, Israel holds some 4,750 Palestinians in dozens of prison facilities, including 42 women, 200 children and 550 administrative prisoners.
In addition, the Government of Israel indicated that, in order to prevent more people from escaping from prison, a large number of prisoners of security crimes linked to various terrorist organizations were transferred to separate cells in Gilboa, while others were completely transferred to other prisons. The prison will undergo mass inspections in the coming days for other tunnels that may exist in inmate cells.
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.