IPS foils attempt by Islamic Jihad prisoners to tunnel out of Israeli jail
Palestinian security prisoners attempted to escape from Gilboa prison via underground tunnel stemming from jail cell's bathroom.
By BEN HARTMANPrison escape tunnel(photo credit: ISRAEL PRISON SERVICE)
The Israel Prisons Service on Sunday foiled an attempt by Palestinian security prisoners to tunnel their way out of Gilboa prison, according to a statement the IPS put out Sunday.According to the IPS, the eight prisoners, all affiliated with Islamic Jihad, and some of whom are serving lengthy sentences, had begun building a tunnel in the bathroom of the cell.At the moment the IPS is trying to figure out where the destination of the tunnel was meant to be, though for now they suspect that it was to be used for an escape.They added that they found the tunnel because of "intelligence" they received.In an earlier incident in June, a group of Islamic Jihad prisoners, including some serving life sentences, tried to tunnel their way out of Shateh prison in northern Israel. In that case as well the IPS got intelligence ahead of time and found the tunnel before it was finished.They said that they believe that the prisoners planned an attack on prison staff by way of the tunnel that they had begun digging in a bathroom in their cell.The tunnel was four meters long and almost two feet wide and had been dug in recent days, and led into a yard at the prison. The IPS said at the time that they believe that the prisoners eventually intended to dig until they reached outside the prison walls.They added that they also found found improvised knives in another cell, as well as fake prison guard uniforms. The prisoners had made fake IPS badges out of cardboard and toothpaste the service said.
