Gazan accused of spying for Israel escapes from Hamas prison

A Gaza-based Palestinian prisoner accused of spying for Israel escaped on Saturday from a Hamas-run prison in the besieged coastal enclave. 

In a press statement sent to The New Arab, the Hamas-run interior ministry said that "Abdul Karim Abu Oda, an Israeli spy, escaped from a prison in Gaza. The ministry is doing its best to find and re-arrest him."

The ministry warned citizens against cooperating with the "most dangerous criminal" or assisting him in his disappearance, offering a financial reward for anyone who provides information on his whereabouts.

Hamas police were deployed to the streets across the Gaza Strip, setting up checkpoints on roads, according to local witnesses.

Meanwhile, dozens of security forces raided Abu Oda's house, arresting family members. They also raided nearby homes in search of him. 

Abu Oda, 35, was a former commander at Ezz Al-Din al-Qassam, the armed wing of the Islamist group which ruled the impoverished strip since 2007.

A security source close to Hamas, who preferred not to be named, told The New Arab that "[Hamas] arrested Abu Oda in 2019 when he returned from abroad, accusing him of spying for Israel for many years".

Abu Oda, the source said, gave Israeli security information about the tunnels' networks in Gaza, used for "activities against Israel".

In January 2021, Basel Salhia, a former Hamas commander known as al-Tayyar, announced in a five-video series that the Israeli intelligence and army got maps identifying the locations of the tunnels in Gaza. 

He declared that Israel "succeeded" in overthrowing some al-Qassam commanders in "the slaying of workers in its favour", referring to Abdul Karim Abu Oda being as one of them. 

"Israel will launch its military war on Gaza soon and it will attack the tunnels as it has all the maps of them," he said at the time.

In May 2021, Israel launched its fourth-large scale bombing campaign against the impoverish strip, attacking strategic tunnels for Hamas and killing more than 255 Palestinians, including children.