In a manner
befitting a Hollywood thriller-like prison break, six Palestinians managed to
break out of a maximum-security Israeli prison Monday by digging through a
toilet tunnel. It was only when local farmers reported suspicious activity that
the police got a whiff of what had occurred right under their noses and were
left peering through a whole in the floor of a cell. After Gilboa prison
officials discovered the men were gone, Israeli security forces mounted a search
in northern Israel.

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Among the
fugitives, five belong to the Islamic Jihad movement while one is a former
commander of an armed group affiliated with the Fatah Party, according to prison
officials. Four of the six inmates were serving life sentences after being
convicted of planning or carrying out attacks that killed Israeli citizens. The
fifth fugitive was imprisoned under a special detention order and the sixth was
awaiting a verdict in his trial.

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After news
spread of how the prisoners had managed to escape, Palestinian social media was
replete with images of celebration, according to The Indian Express. Pictures,
from unverified sources, showed Islamic Jihad supporters distributing candy on
the street to people passing by.

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“Today,
Islamic Jihad heroes achieved a new victory in the Gilboa prison. This victory
smashed the image of the occupier,” said Khamees El-Haitham, a spokesperson for
Islamic Jihad.

Meanwhile, Israeli
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said that this was a grave incident that
requires “an across-the-board effort by security forces to find the escapees”.

The
fugitives may try to reach West Bank or the Jordan border, according to a
police spokesperson. In West Bank, Palestinian authorities exercise limited
self-rule.

The
incident reminded many of the 1994 Hollywood film Shawshank Redemption where
the protagonist, Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robins), escapes through the
sewage tunnel of a prison.