Tension mounts in Israeli jails as manhunt for prison escapees continues
Jerusalem, Sep 9 (EFE).- Tensions are escalating in Israeli jails as Palestinian prisoners set cells ablaze Thursday, while the search continues for the six convicts who dug their way out of a high-security prison.
The Israeli Prison Service said prisoners in the Ramon prison in southern Israel clashed with guards and kindled a fire in cells but was extinguished later.
The incidents come after local media reported Wednesday that some 100 inmates engaged in clashes in Israeli prisons.
Palestinian detainees are protesting new measures announced by the authorities following the escape, including allocating 400 prisoners belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group to other prison facilities across the country.
However, the inmates have resisted the transfer process which increased tensions in the facilities.
The police and special army forces, meanwhile, have been searching for the six men for days, after they escaped the Gilboa high-security prison on Monday.
Five out of the six escapees are members of the Islamic Jihad, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, while the other one is a former commander of Fatah’s military wing, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. EFE
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