Israeli army arrested last two Palestinian fugitives from high security prison

The Israeli military announced the arrest of the last two escapees from the escape of six Palestinian prisoners two weeks ago, from a prison in northern Israel.

The six terrorists, arrested for acts of violence against Israel, They escaped on September 6 from the Gilboa high security prison in the north of the territory through a tunnel they dug under a sink that opened into a hole outside the penitentiary.

The weekend after the escape, Israeli forces arrested four of them in Nazareth, The main Arab city in northern Israel.

Sunday morning the army announced in a brief statement the capture of the last two during an operation in Jenin, in the northern West Bank.

The last detainees are Ayham Kamamji, 35, and Munadel Infeiat, 26, both from Islamic Jihad and they were captured in a joint operation with the special anti-terrorist units.

The two men “are questioned”, the army statement added, without giving further details on the capture.

Originally from Kafr Dan, near Jenin, Ayman Kamamji was arrested in 2006 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of Eliahou Ashéri, a young Israeli settler.

For its part, Munadel Infeiat was arrested in 2020, according to Islamic Jihad, and he was awaiting his conviction after being imprisoned for his activities as a member of the armed movement.

Since their escape through a tunnel dug under a sink, Israeli authorities have searched for them in Israel and the West Bank, where the fugitives are from and where the army has deployed reinforcements.

It was believed that they may have left the country, crossing the Jordanian border, but four of the fugitives they were arrested in northern Israel, about 30 kilometers from the prison last weekend.

Police announced the arrest in Nazareth, the main Arab city in northern Israel, two members of the Islamic Jihad armed group: Yaqub Qadri, 48, and Mahmud Ardah, 45.

According to the local press, Ardah, who was serving a life sentence, was the main instigator of the escape.

“The police found them and chased them by helicopter”, police said about the two fugitives. “They were held without resistance in southern Nazareth.

Israeli police later announced the arrest of the two other escapees who were “hiding in a truck parking lot”.

It is Zakaria al Zubeidi, a well-known former leader of the armed wing of the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abas, and Mohammad Ardah, a member of Islamic Jihad.

The arrests took place in the Arab town of Shibli Umm al Ghanam, about ten kilometers east of Nazareth.

(With information from AFP)

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