Islamic Jihad Warns “Israel” against “Collective Punishment” of Palestinian Inmates

By Staff, Agencies

The Islamic Jihad strongly warned the “Israeli” regime against trying to punish other Palestinian prisoners over the recent escape of six inmates from a maximum-security “Israeli” jail.

The Palestinian resistance movement issued the warning in a statement on Tuesday after Palestinian sources revealed that the regime was administering “collective punishment” to prisoners, including some of Jihad’s senior figures, after the jailbreak.

The prisoners, five of whom belong to the group, escaped the Gilboa Prison in the northern part of the occupied territories through an underground tunnel. The facility has earned notoriety as the “Israeli” version of the Guantanamo prison.

Despite conducting a thorough search for an entire day, the “Israeli” police service has failed so far to find any clues about the escapees’ current whereabouts.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Wafa news agency said the regime had begun taking out the embarrassment on other Palestinian inmates through a number of measures.

It has transferred more than a dozen prisoners from Gilboa’s second ward to another “Israeli” prison and stopped allowing prisoners’ access to television. The regime has also taken five of the Islamic Jihad’s leaders to Gilboa’s interrogation center, and begun rummaging every nook and cranny throughout the prison.

The resistance group said it was monitoring the situation at “Israeli” prisons, advising Tel Aviv against taking “retaliatory measures” against the prisoners.

The movement said it would not leave its prisoners alone and noted that whatever “‘Israeli’ terrorist action” against them was to be met with its due response.

“The ‘Israeli’ regime should know this that violations targeting the prisoners are our redline,” it said, adding, “We are prepared to and capable of defending our prisoners and have several options at our disposal to do so.”