Israeli court jails Palestinian jailbreakers for five years

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced six Palestinian detainees to five years in prison for tunneling out of a maximum-security jail facility last year.

The court also slapped the six prisoners with a fine of 5,000 shekels ($1,500), the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-run Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees' Affairs said in a statement.

The six detainees escaped from their cell in the high-security Gilboa prison in northern Israel in September 2021. They were recaptured a few days later.

Five of the detainees are members of Islamic Jihad group, while the sixth is a member of the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The jailbreak has brought Israel’s prison service under fire and prompted the government to launch an investigation.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar