Two final Palestinian escapees 'beaten, tortured' by Israeli forces during arrests: report

Israel attempted to kill the last two Palestinian Gilboa Prison escapees while they were on the run, later torturing them during their rearrest, a lawyer with the Palestinian Authority's prisoners' agency claimed following a visit.

With their arrests, all six detainees have now been arrested again after two weeks of embarrassment for Israeli forces.

The two Palestinian detainees, Ayham Kamamji and Munadil Infaat, said they were first fired on in Israel's northern Afula city area, according to Munther Abu Ahmed, a Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees' Affairs (CDA) lawyer representing Kamamji.

This occurred on the same day as their escape, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said, though a report from Anadolu Agency suggested this happened the day after.

They said they were again shot at in the Salem area, a Palestinian village inside Israel and close to the occupied West Bank's Jenin.

The two men then managed to cross the apartheid wall separating Israel from Palestine's West Bank and made it to Jenin, their hometown - and the place were they were ultimately arrested.

Both men were reportedly beaten as Israeli forces took them in, Abu Ahmed claimed on Sunday.

Kamamji's lawyer alleged his client was abused after being arrested until he was brought to Haifa's Al-Jalama jail, and is now in need of medical attention, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

When free, Kamamji had wanted to visit his mother's Jenin grave, although did not manage this.

Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) chief Qadoura Fares on Sunday cautioned that Israel may torture Kamamji and Infaat during a probe into the breakout which caused huge embarrassment for Israel, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Meanwhile, 100 Palestinian detainees at Israel's Ofer jail, located in the West Bank, were set to go on hunger strike in stages from Monday after prisonofficials went back on a deal, according to the PPC on Sunday.

Israeli forces deployed tear gas and stun grenades against Hebron protesters supporting the Palestinian prisoners who escaped from the high-security Gilboa prison
https://t.co/oRw8aPSiXw

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) September 12, 2021

All six rearrested escapees had their detentions prolonged by 10 days on Sunday.

The order, made by a Nazareth court, was to allow inquiries to proceed.

Lawyers for fellow escapees, Mohammed Al-Arda and Zakaria Al-Zubaidi, who were caught on 11 September, previously claimed their clients had also been tortured.