Recapture: ‘We were amazed at how easy it was to flee’ the Palestinian prisoners said to their lawyers. They are those who escaped the Israeli prison some days ago.
On September 6, six prisoners escaped through a tunnel they dug with spoons, five of whom have been accused of a joint deadly attack against the Isreal. However, four were recaptured among them several days ago, while the other two are still on run.
According to Channel 13, the captured prisoners told their attorneys for the first time this week, all their plans. They explain that they planned to reach the northern West Bank city of Jenin as the popular report claimed. They said their escape is not a plan to attack.
The city of Jenin is a pillar of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
Zakaria Zubeidi had requested a transfer to the cell the other five PIJ prisoners were, just the day before the spoon-dug tunnel escape. He said his lawyer, Avigdor Feldman adding that at Gilboa prison, requesting to be transferred to another cell is not abnormal.
Zakaria is a commander in the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. While some others were PIJ-affiliated.
They thought their familiarity with the landscape would allow them to reach Jenin swiftly.
After the Palestinian Prisoners Recaptured
On Wednesday, Zubeidi and al-Arida’s lawyer told reporters that their clients – the prisoners, had been badly tortured during their arrests, with the former suffering a broken jaw and two broken ribs while in handcuffs.
However, the Israeli Police said, they had to be subdued by force, and also that Zubeidi was injured in the course of the jailbreak.
“He said Zakaria, and then he was beaten very badly,” Avigdor Feldman told The Associated Press. Israel police denied the allegation.
How the prisoners Were Arrested
When they were unable to find water, Mohammed al-Arida and Zubeidi were exhausted which lead to their arrest, Arida’s lawyer said.
Two among them were found hiding in a truck parking lot in the Arab town of Umm al-Ghanam.
While the police captured the other two some hours earlier in the nearby Arab city of Nazareth.
