Palestinian prisoners escaped by foot before a car picked them up, says initial probe

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The six high-risk security prisoners that escaped from Gilboa Prison in northern Israel overnight first left by foot and were later picked up by a car 3 kilometers from the prison, an initial probe into the event revealed Monday.

It remains unclear whether the car picked up all six prisoners or just a few of them.

Police, military and Shin Bet forces have been deployed across the country and some 200 roadblocks have been erected to find the escapees. The defense establishment is focusing most of its search efforts in the Beit She’an area in the north after two suspects were spotted on security cameras.

Officials are concerned that the six escaped to Jordan or will try to carry out kidnappings or attacks. The Israeli army set up roadblocks in the West Bank in an attempt to stop the prisoners from crossing into neighboring Jordan.

Three of them were previously deemed a high flight risk, while all of them have either been accused or convicted of partaking in terror activities. Among the runaways is Zakaria Zubeidi, the former leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade and a Fatah activist, who was accused of perpetrating a 2002 attack at the Likud party office which killed six people.

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Officials at the Israel Prison Service say the inmates escaped around 1:30 A.M. They were first noticed by a local cab driver at 1:49 A.M, who spotted them at a gas station near the prison and called the police. A dispatched unit arrived at the location less than ten minutes later and started inspecting the area and interviewing gas station employees.