OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel has recaptured four of the
six Palestinians who escaped from a high-security prison earlier this week in
one of the most spectacular breakouts in the country's history, Israeli
occupation forces said Saturday.
اضافة اعلان
Since Monday's breakout, Israeli forces have poured into the
occupied West Bank for a massive manhunt.
But the two latest fugitives to be recaptured, who include a
prominent former militant leader, were found hiding in a lorry park just
outside Nazareth in northern Israel, police said.
Zakaria Zubeidi, 45, is a former leader of the Fatah
movement of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank town of Jenin.
Mohammad Ardah, 39, was sentenced to life in prison in 2002
for his role in Islamic Jihad's armed wing.
"Two more prisoners who
escaped were captured a short
time ago ... while they were hiding in a parking lot for trucks," Israeli
occupation forces said.
"The hunt for the other two fugitives continues."
On Friday evening, Israeli forces recaptured Yaqoub Qadri,
48, and Mahmud Abdullah Ardah, 45, both members of Islamic Jihad. Ardah was the
alleged mastermind of the escape.
"Police located (the two fugitives) and chased them in
a helicopter," the an Israeli statement said.
"They offered no resistance when they were arrested in
the south of Nazareth."
Huge manhunt
Israeli media said police were alerted by residents who
reported seeing two men searching litter bins for food.
Shortly after their capture was announced Friday, Israeli
forces said that a rocket had been fired at southern Israel from the Gaza
Strip, but was intercepted by air defenses.
Israeli occupation forces had conducted a huge search
operation for the six prisoners since they broke out of the high-security
Gilboa prison through a tunnel dug beneath a sink in a cell.
Israeli troops closed all the checkpoints connecting Israel
and annexed East Jerusalem with the West Bank in a bid to prevent them escaping.
Nazareth, where the four were found, has a large Arab
population.
The six fugitives were all members of Palestinian militant
groups who had been convicted by Israeli courts of plotting or carrying out
attacks against Israelis.
Mahmud Ardah, from Arraba near Jenin, was imprisoned in 1996
for attacks on Israel claimed by Islamic Jihad and was among four to receive a
life sentence.
He was held in solitary confinement in 2014 after an escape
tunnel was found at Israel's Shata prison, according to his Islamic Jihad
biography.
On Thursday, Israel announced a formal inquiry into lapses
that allowed the six to escape.
An Israeli injunction is in effect against publishing
details of the jailbreak investigation, even as local media report on the
scramble to recover from the embarrassing lapse.
'Heroic' escape
Israel's public security ministry tweeted its
congratulations Saturday to the security forces but stressed that their mission
was "not finished".
It thanked "the Arab citizens of Israel who aided in
the capture of the terrorists", after the manhunt focused on the north
where many Arab Israelis live, Palestinians who stayed after the creation of
Israel in 1948.
A statement from Islamic Jihad said the arrests would not
erase the fact of the "heroic" escape, and said any attempt by the
Israeli authorities to "take revenge" on the prisoners would be interpreted
as a "declaration of war".
Hamas hailed the "heroes" of the "tunnel of
freedom", and Abbas's Fatah argued that the arrests "would only
increase the resolve" of Palestinians against the Israeli occupation.
When news of the escape first broke on Monday, many people
in the Gaza Strip and in Jenin took to the streets to celebrate.
Demonstrations were also held in several West Bank towns and
cities, with youths in Nablus setting tires alight during confrontations with
Israeli occupation forces.
With tensions running high, Israeli troops on Friday shot
and fatally wounded a Palestinian during an attempted stabbing in the Old City
of occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinian armed groups had called for a "Day of
Rage" in support of the prisoners as the manhunt continued.
Read more Region and World
.jpg)
.jpg)
