The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has warned the Israeli regime of serious consequences of its criminal acts and repressive measures against Palestinian prisoners in the wake of the recent escape of six Palestinian prisoners from a high-security jail in the northern part of the occupied territories.
Hamas, in a statement released on Friday, said the Palestinian nation and valiant resistance fighters will not remain silent in the face of ongoing violations, emphasizing that Israeli prison officials will doubtlessly pay a heavy price for their continued torture of Palestinian inmates.
The movement held ‘Israel’ “fully responsible for the results and consequences of this dangerous policy, and for the lives of all prisoners.”
Hamas highlighted that the defeat that Israel suffered following Operation Freedom Tunnel falls within the series of the regime’s security, military and political setbacks against the heroism and creativity of the Palestinian nation and resistance front.
The statement stressed that “the freedom of Palestinian prisoners remains at the top of the movement’s and the Palestinian nation’s priorities. We give our prisoners categorical assurance that they will embrace freedom soon.”
In the predawn hours of September 6, Zakaria Zubeidi, a former commander of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade in Jenin and five Islamic Jihad members tunneled their way out through their cell’s drainage system and escaped from Gilboa prison.
Israeli prison officials were alerted by farmers who noticed them running through fields.
Four of the Islamic Jihad members were serving life sentences, while the fifth had been held without charge for two years under a so-called administrative detention order, according to Israeli media.
Last Saturday, Israeli media outlets reported that four of the escapees had been arrested in the northern part of the occupied territories.
Prison authorities keep Palestinian inmates under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards. The prisoners have also been subjected to systematic torture, harassment and repression.
Human rights organizations say Israel violates all the rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
There are reportedly more than 7,000 Palestinians held at Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have been apparently incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention.
Source: Iranian Agencies
