JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities remained short on answers Tuesday over how six Palestinian prisoners’ escape from a high-security jail went unnoticed and where they could have gone, with a vast manhunt still underway.
The group’s early-morning flight, through a hole made below a sink in a Gilboa prison cell to a tiny tunnel exit discovered by guards and police early Monday morning, sounds almost like a plotline from Israeli-Palestinian conflict drama “Fauda.”
In fact, it has made the escapees “heroes” to many Palestinians, with celebrations in the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank.
But the full weight of Israel’s security arsenal has been deployed to catch them, including aerial drones, checkpoints on roads and an army mission to Jenin, where many of the men locked up for their roles in attacks on the Jewish state grew up.
The search continued as the country was celebrating Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) on Tuesday, more than 24 hours after the “Great Escape” hailed by some Palestinian newspapers.
“We have made no progress at present,” said a spokesman for police in northern Israel, where the Gilboa prison has stood since its construction during the Second Intifada or uprising against Israel.
“But all branches of the security forces have been mobilized to find the prisoners, whether it’s the army, the Shin Bet (internal security service), the police, border guards, and their special units,” the spokesman added.
An Israeli injunction is in effect against publishing details of the investigation, even as local media report on the scramble to recover from the embarrassing slip-up and prevent any possible attack by the fugitives.
There are many possible destinations for the band, from their nearby West Bank home to the shelter of the Gaza Strip, ruled by Islamist group Hamas and a refuge for the Islamic Jihad group to which five of the six belong.
They could even have tried to cross the border to another country altogether.
It was “very probable” that the men crossed into Jordan, whose frontier lies only around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the prison, a police source told Israeli daily Haaretz Tuesday.
The paper also reported that a car may have picked up some or all of the escapees three kilometers from the prison on Monday.
Another branch of the probe is focusing on how the escape succeeded without the prison guards noticing a thing.
Public broadcaster Kan reported that the men were visible on surveillance cameras as they wriggled out of the tunnel exit — but no-one was monitoring the screens at the time.
One guard in charge of that sector of the prison may even have been asleep on duty, Kan added.
Meanwhile a journalist for the Maariv newspaper said that constructing the tunnel could have taken the inmates as long as five months, according to elements from the investigation.
Questions plague Israeli security forces after jailbreak
https://arab.news/9zdfb
Questions plague Israeli security forces after jailbreak
- It has made the escapees "heroes" to many Palestinians, with celebrations in the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank
- The full weight of Israel's security arsenal has been deployed to catch them
Israel police to deploy around Al-Aqsa for Ramadan, Palestinians report curbs
- The Al-Aqsa compound is a central symbol of Palestinian identity and also a frequent flashpoint
JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Monday that they would deploy in force around the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week, as Palestinian officials accused Israel of imposing restrictions at the compound.
Over the course of the month of fasting and prayer, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Al-Aqsa — Islam’s third-holiest site, located in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed.
Arad Braverman, a senior Jerusalem police officer, said forces would be deployed “day and night” across the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and in the surrounding area.
He said thousands of police would also be on duty for Friday prayers, which draw the largest crowds of Muslim worshippers.
Braverman said police had recommended issuing 10,000 permits for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, who require special permission to enter Jerusalem.
He did not say whether age limits would apply, adding that the final number of people would be decided by the government.
The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said in a separate statement it had been informed that permits would again be restricted to men over 55 and women over 50, mirroring last year’s criteria.
It said Israeli authorities had blocked the Islamic Waqf — the Jordanian?run body administering the site — from carrying out routine preparations, including installing shade structures and setting up temporary medical clinics.
A Waqf source confirmed the restrictions and said 33 of its employees had been barred from entering the compound in the week before Ramadan.
The Al-Aqsa compound is a central symbol of Palestinian identity and also a frequent flashpoint.
Under long?standing arrangements, Jews may visit the compound — which they revere as the site of their second temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD — but they are not permitted to pray there.
Israel says it is committed to maintaining this status quo, though Palestinians fear it is being eroded.
Braverman reiterated Monday that no changes were planned.
In recent years, a growing number of Jewish ultranationalists have challenged the prayer ban, including far?right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who prayed at the site while serving as national security minister in 2024 and 2025.
