Prison transfers postponed due to resistance concerns – report

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) inmates at Ofer Prison who were supposed to be transferred to other prisons due to the Gilboa Prison escape remained in place due to fears of violent resistance, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

The inmates at Ofer Prison near Givat Ze’ev were supposed to have been dispersed to other jails, mainly in the Negev, after Prison Service chief Katty Perry ordered that some 400 PIJ inmates be transferred and dispersed so as to disrupt any further incidents following the escape of the six PIJ inmates on Monday. 

While PIJ inmates at the Gilboa and Meggido prisons were transferred as directed, the Ofer Prison inmates were not, after they threatened to burn their cells, disrupt order and attack the prison guards, a source from Israel Prisons Service told Haaretz.

The source said that the prison guards feared the inmates and were unwilling to confront them.

Indeed, Malik Hamed, an inmate at Gilboa Prison, attempted to pour boiling water on a prison guard, according to Israeli and Palestinian media. No injuries have been reported.

The measures against the PIJ inmates did not go unnoticed.

“Any act of revenge against the prisoners will lead to the opening of the gates of hell in all of Israel,” the PIJ said in a Jenin press conference on Tuesday night.

Hamas also racked up its rhetoric and threatened on Wednesday that it will not remain silent in the face of “crimes” perpetrated against prisoners.

Meanwhile, family members of the escapees were arrested overnight, Israeli and Palestinian media reported.

As of Wednesday morning, the escaped prisoners were still at large.

The prisoners – including Zakaria Zubeidi, a leader of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who played a key role in the Second Intifada – are all considered extremely dangerous. Israeli security officials think that they could carry out an attack while on the loose, or that other Palestinians emboldened by their release could carry out attacks in an attempt to distract troops from the manhunt.