Six Palestinians Escape From Maximum Security Israeli Prison
Six Palestinian prisoners escaped from one of the safest prisons in the country on Sunday night, a breakout worthy of Hollywood itself, that left guards peering through a hole in the floor of a cell, and had Palestinians celebrating in the streets, with the Israeli authorities launching a large-scale manhunt.
Nadine Hosny 
It is believed that these men dug a tunnel from their cell within a few months to a road outside the walls of Gilboa prison.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a statement described the escape as “a grave incident” and stated that his office was getting regular information about the manhunt.
Farmers notified officials, who noticed the prisoners crossing the fields nearby. The escapees included Zakaria Zubeidi, a previous leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade militant group and five members of the Islamic Jihad. An Israeli prison official called the incident a "serious security and intelligence failure"; while Palestinian rebel groups called it "heroic."
The Gilboa Prison, a high-security facility known as “The Safe”, located 3 kilometers from the border of the occupied West Bank, issued an alert when the authorities received reports from local farmers about suspicious people in nearby farmland. The prison houses Palestinians who have been convicted or accused in engaging in anti-Israeli activities. When prison staff checked at 01:00 am, they found that 6 prisoners were missing. It is believed that the Palestinians dug a hole in the bathroom floor and left their shared cell. The tunnel deposited them right outside the prison walls.
The photos show officials examining a small hole under the sink and another hole in the center of a dirt road beside the prison wall. Arik Yaacov, Gilboa Prison’s northern commander, said the group appeared to have dug open a hole from their cell toilet floor to gain access to sections formed when the jail was being built. The Jerusalem Post stated that the escapees used a corroded spoon concealed at the back of a poster. The Shin Bet security department stated that they believed they had used contraband mobile phones to contact people outside the prison and that a car picked them up.
According to The Times of Israel, five of the six were sentenced to life in prison for “deadly attacks” on Israelis, and the other is ongoing trial for more than 20 crimes, including attempted murder.
The escapees were saluted by many Palestinian groups, who saw their escape as a symbolic challenge to Israeli occupation. Ziad al-Nakhala, secretary-general of Islamic Jihad, said in a statement that the escapees “teach us that anything is possible with strong will and patience, and that defeating the enemy is closer than ever.”
These prisoners are among the approximately 5,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, usually due to so-called militant activities. Israeli authorities also seized the bodies of dozens of detained Palestinians, refusing to hand them over for burial, to discourage other militants and as way to put pressure on Hamas, the rebel group from the Gaza Strip believed to have the bodies of two Israeli soldiers that were killed.
