BEITA (Dispatches) – Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds gathered for a day of rage on Friday in support of the six Palestinian prisoners, who escaped from a Zionist regime prison, heeding the call of Palestinian resistance groups.
They also protested against the measures that Zionist jail authorities have imposed on imprisoned members of the Islamic Jihad, a resistance group active in the Gaza Strip, in the wake of a brazen escape from one of the regime’s most secure prisons.
Several relatives of the escaped prisoners have been arrested, including three people on Friday morning, as part of the regime’s manhunt to capture them. The six men tunneled out of the high-security Gilboa jail on Monday, triggering celebration and solidarity protests in the Palestinian territories.
Two brothers and a sister of Mahmud Ardah were arrested on Friday morning in the village of Arraba near Jenin in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said.
Ardah has been imprisoned for life since 1996 over his role in alleged deadly attacks.
Other relatives of the six fugitives, all from the Jenin area, were arrested on Wednesday and are being held in detention, according to the Palestinian advocacy group.
Zionist troops were on their second-highest level of alert on Friday, below declaring a state of emergency, prepared for protests in the occupied Palestinian territories and possible riots within the regime’s jails.
More than 100 Palestinian protesters moved towards the valley below the illegal settlement of Evyatar which is constructed on agricultural land expropriated from the villagers.
Periodically, drones flew over the young men, dropping tear gas on them, while others buzzed close above taking pictures.
Later on Friday, the Red Crescent reported more than 30 injuries in Beita and Beit Dajan near Nablus. An ambulance was also hit by the regime’s troops.
The Popular International Committee to Support Palestine has called on the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian prisoners detained in the Zionist regime’s prisons.
The commission’s head, Essam Youssef said in a statement that occupation authorities violate all international laws and covenants by escalating acts of oppression and abuse against Palestinian prisoners.
He warned that the regime’s fierce repression campaigns against Palestinian prisoners endanger their lives, explaining that the Palestinian prisoners are resisting the regime’s oppression where authorities use troops to confront unarmed prisoners.
Youssef stressed the need for the international community to exert pressure on the Zionist regime in order to force it to comply with the international law which guarantees special protection to this category of prisoners.