Two of six Palestinians who escaped from prison in Israel arrested

Israeli police arrested this Friday evening in northern Israel for two of the six Palestinians who escaped earlier this week from an Israeli high-security prison, security forces reported.

“Police officers from the northern zone recently captured two of the escaped prisoners (…) in the city of Nazareth”Israeli police said in a statement, without giving further details.

The trapped are Mahmoud al Arida, from the Islamic Jihad group and who has been serving the death sentence since 1996 for his involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis, and Yakoub Qadiri, a member of the same group and also imprisoned for life imprisonment since 2003, reported the Ministry of Detainees of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

Hebrew security forces continue to search and capture fugitives, after Monday Six Palestinians to escape from Gilboa high security prison, in northern Israel, through a tunnel dug under a sink.

The Israeli military announced on Wednesday the deployment of new reinforcements to West Bank, one of the occupied Palestinian enclaves, to track down the escapees.

The six escaped prisoners were part of Palestinian armed groups and they were imprisoned for being accused of prepare attacks against Israeli interests.

Hebrew authorities have expressed concern that these prisoners commit new attacks.

Among them there was Mahmoud Ardah, pointed out by the media as the architect of the escape and who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his membership in the Islamic Jihad group.

Yesterday, Israel extended the closure of its crossings with West Bank busy and Gaza until Saturday to concentrate efforts on the search for prisoners while the army has decided to allocate more troops to capture tasks.

The closure of military posts and checkpoints with the Palestinian territories began on Monday afternoon, shortly before the start of the Jewish New Year. Israel usually takes these measures on the days that coincide with the important holidays in his religious calendar, and he had to lift the current closure on Wednesday.

However, he decided to extend the closure until midnight Saturday to focus on finding the six Palestinian detainees who fled this morning through a tunnel from a prison in northeast Israel. Most of them were serving time for terrorism, they are considered very dangerous and it is not known where they are until now.

On the other hand, the army reinforced with combat battalions, observation troops and planes to their troops in the West Bank, where they work tirelessly to find the fugitives.

The Israeli police, military and intelligence forces have been searching for the escapees for more than 48 hours, who escaped from prison in an unusual escape that challenged Israel’s strict security system. It is considered one of the most important leaks in the history of the country.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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