Israel formally indicts six Palestinian jail breakers

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Six Palestinian prisoners who made a daring escaping from an Israeli prison in September were formally indicted on Sunday, Israel's justice ministry said.

The men were charged with escaping from the high-security Gilboa Prison in northern Israel while five others were accused of assisting them, a statement said.

The inmates, five from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and one belonging to the armed branch of the Palestinian Authority's Fateh faction, had been held for attacks against Israel.

According to the charge sheet, at the end of 2020 they began digging a tunnel under the sink of their cell's bathroom.

“The defendants carried out the digging work daily in shifts, accommodated to their routine to prevent them from being caught, while using improvised digging tools,” the indictment said.

One of them, Mahmud Abdullah Ardah, said after he was recaptured that he had used spoons, plates and even the handle of a kettle to dig the tunnel.

By September 5, the 30 metre-long tunnel, ending beyond the prison’s wall, was complete, the indictment said, with the convicts escaping that night.

The six, hailed as heroes by Palestinians, were recaptured in batches during a major Israeli manhunt in September.

In addition to Ardah, an Islamic Jihad member and the alleged mastermind of the escape, they include Zakaria Zubeidi who headed the Fateh armed wing in northern West Bank city Jenin.

The other four are Ayham Kamamji, Munadel Infeiat, Yaqub Qadri and Mohammad Ardah.

Israel has launched an investigation into how they pulled off their daring escaping.