Back to prison: Nearly two weeks after the spectacular escape of six Palestinian prisoners from an Israeli high-security penitentiary, the last two fugitives on the run were arrested in the occupied West Bank during an operation by Israeli forces, they said. they announced on Sunday.
Read alsoIsrael: after the incredible escape of six Palestinians, the city of Jenin is jubilant
On September 6, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, six Palestinian inmates imprisoned for anti-Israel violence fled from Gilboa high-security prison in northern Israel through a tunnel. under a sink and leading to a hole in the floor outside the penitentiary. The six escapees, immediately qualified as "
heroes
" on the Palestinian side and beyond in the Arab world, had become the most wanted men in Israel, which had deployed military reinforcements and drones to try to find them.
The weekend after this escape, which recalls in its modus operandi the American film Shawshank Redemption (The escapees or In the shadow of Shawshank in French) and is described as "
Great escape
" by the Palestinian press, the Israeli forces had arrested four of the fugitives in the area of Nazareth, an Arab town in northern Israel. The authorities had arrested, then started to interrogate, Mahmoud Ardah, a member of the Islamic Jihad imprisoned since 1996 and considered to be the mastermind of the operation, and Zakaria al-Zoubeidi, a former head of the armed wing of the Fatah party for the Palestinian camp of Jenin, bastion of the armed rebellion.
Early Sunday, the military announced the arrest in Jenin, West Bank, of the last two fugitives, Ayham Kamamji and Munadel Infeiat, members of the Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed Islamist movement, in a joint operation with special anti-terrorism units . Originally from Kafr Dan, near Jenin, Ayman Kamamji was arrested in 2006 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of Eliahou Asheri, a young Israeli settler. Munadel Infeiat was awaiting his conviction after having been imprisoned in the past for his activities within the Islamic Jihad.
The two men "
are currently being questioned,
" the IDF said in a message to the press.
"
The security forces surrounded the building that housed the terrorists who surrendered unopposed and unarmed,
" the army added in a statement.
"
Two men who had helped them were also arrested,
" said the army.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett congratulated the security forces on Tweeter for "
this impressive, intelligent and swift operation
".
"
Spoon of freedom
"
Palestinian prisoners began digging their tunnel in Gilboa prison in December 2020, lawyers for two of the arrested escapees told AFP. “
Mahmoud (Ardah) told me that he started digging (the tunnel) in December. This is what he also told Israeli investigators,
”his lawyer, Raslan Mahajana, told AFP after visiting him in detention last Wednesday.
The prisoners had used spoons, plates and even the handle of a kettle to dig their tunnel, added Me Mahajana by presenting Mahmoud Ardah, at the heart of the communication campaign of Islamic Jihad in support of the "
heroes
" who were escaped, like the architect of this operation. On social networks, the spoon has established itself as the new symbol of "
liberation
" for Palestinians, who take pictures of themselves with the utensil in hand in front of Palestinian flags.
This phenomenon has spread outside the Palestinian territories, where the object is brandished in demonstrations in support of the many prisoners held in Israel.
In Kuwait, artist Maitham Abdal carved a fist that closes on the utensil, a work he called “
Spoon of Freedom
”.
Read alsoIn Israel, the spectacular escape of six Palestinian prisoners
The Israeli media also followed the plot twists of the Palestinian escapees, fearing that one of them would carry out an anti-Israel attack on the run, and questioning the security at Gilboa prison, which is the subject of an internal investigation.