The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group sent gunmen to the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on Tuesday ahead of expected Israeli raids hunting six security prisoners who escaped from an Israeli prison, as the fugitives remained at large over a day after their disappearance.
Israel has launched a massive manhunt to capture the six prisoners, who are considered highly dangerous, after they broke out of the high-security Gilboa prison early Monday in what is considered to be among the most serious jailbreaks in the country’s history.
Five of the six fugitives are members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The terror group has issued several threats to Israel since the escape, warning against raids in Jenin and against taking action against the group’s members in Israeli prisons.
“If the IDF enters [Jenin] it will be met with significant firepower from many weapons and explosive devices,” the group said at a Tuesday press conference in Jenin.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah both dispatched members to Jenin to bolster their forces there ahead of the expected incursions by the Israel Defense Forces, Channel 12 news reported.
PIJ militants hold a press conference in Jenin tonight, amid the intense manhunt for the six Palestinian security prisoners, originally from Jenin, who fled Gilboa Prison on Monday. pic.twitter.com/JRbl9HZAiP
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 7, 2021
The six escapees include Zakaria Zubeidi, a notorious commander in Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror group, who was in prison while on trial for two dozen crimes, including attempted murder.
Zubeidi’s brother Jibril, who said he was held for seven years in Gilboa Prison, told Channel 13 he had believed the jail to be impregnable; he also said he had “no idea” of his Zakaria’s whereabouts.
Four escapees were in jail for life in connection with deadly attacks against Israelis and affiliation with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group. The remaining prisoner was being held in administrative detention and had not been charged with a crime other than belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Many Palestinians assume that some, or all, of the six escapees would seek refuge in the Jenin camp. All of the fugitives are from the Jenin area, which has largely become a no-go zone to the IDF and Palestinian Authority security forces.
Video posted by Palestinian media said to be from Jenin showed masked gunmen walking down a city street, firing weapons in the air.
#شاهد انتشار للمقاومين…
Read More: Islamic Jihad threatens Israel over escaped prisoners, braces for IDF raids