[israelTimes] IDF extends closure of West Bank after riots; violence also spreads to East Jerusalem and within prisons; army deploys hundreds to aid in search for dangerous runaways
Bring Bibi Back!
Public Security Minister Omer Barlev vowed Thursday morning to capture six Paleostinian security prisoners who escaped on Monday from the high-security Gilboa Prison, and to deal with the failures that allowed the prison break to happen.
"We will get our hands on the fleeing terrorists, we will correct the failures that led to the escapes — and if we find professional negligence, we will take care of that as well," Barlev told news hounds.
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The investigation into the prison escape was transferred on Thursday from the Israel Police Northern Command to the Unit of International Crime Investigations within Lahav 433, the Israel Police’s special investigative division.
With significant military backup, Israeli security forces pressed on with the nationwide search on Thursday for the prisoners, whose jailbreak earlier this week sparked riots in prisons around the country, as well as in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Since Monday’s jailbreak, Israeli forces have been conducting a massive manhunt to capture the runaways, who are considered highly dangerous, after what is considered to be one of the most serious prison escapes in the country’s history.
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday said it was boosting its aid to the search efforts, with two battalions, six companies, two recon teams, a number of special forces squads and aerial surveillance teams assisting. The army also announced it was extending its closure of the West Bank on Wednesday night, amid fears of escalating violence in the area.
Israel has deployed drones, road checkpoints and an army mission to Jenin, the West Bank hometown of many of the escaped prisoners for their roles in attacks on the Jewish state, according to AFP. The Paleostinian Prisoners’ Club said two brothers of Mahmud Ardah, described in local media as the criminal mastermind of the escape, have been arrested.
The army has also taken into custody four other people — fellow family member Dr. Nidal Ardah, along with two brothers of a second runaway and the father of Munadel Infeiat, another escapee.
All three of these escapees are members of the Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror group.
Paleostinians held large-scale demonstrations across the West Bank and Jerusalem Wednesday night, some of them violent mostly peaceful, in solidarity with the escaped prisoners. Five of the runaways are members of the Islamic Jihad terror group; the sixth is a notorious Fatah terror chief.
A total of some 400 Paleostinians confronted IDF troops at eight West Bank flashpoints, burning tires and throwing rocks.
In at least one case, rioters near the Judea and Samaria Square in the Ramallah district of the West Bank were reported to use live fire against Israeli soldiers, but missed them. A similar incident occurred at the same place amid a violent mostly peaceful demonstration in May, during which two Israeli soldiers were maimed.
Unrest was reported near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, the East Jerusalem Issawiya neighborhood, in Hebron, Hawara, Azzoun, near Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, and in other locations in the West Bank.
Two Paleostinians were hurt from police’s rubber bullets, and another from a stun grenade during the festivities at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, according to the Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy.
In the West Bank town of Beita, two Paleostinians were hurt by Israel Defense Forces’ live fire, the Red Islamic Thingy said.
And in Hawara, at least 100 Paleostinians were treated by Red Islamic Thingy medics, most of them for inhaling tear gas fire by Israeli forces.
Also amid the festivities at Damascus Gate, an Israeli Egged bus was struck by stones reportedly hurled by Paleostinian demonstrators.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
In the days following the escape, security prisoners in several Israeli facilities have held riots and Paleostinians have held at times violent mostly peaceful demonstrations in support of the runaways.
Wednesday saw major unrest at Ketziot Prison, where inmates burned several cells, as well as several other facilities.
The West Bank closure, a routine procedure during Israeli and Jewish holidays, was put in place ahead of Monday’s Rosh Hashanah two-day holiday. It had been set to end on Wednesday at midnight, but will instead continue through Saturday night, the military said.
The extension of the closure is meant to aid in the manhunt and to contribute to the military’s efforts to tamp down tensions in the West Bank and Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
Strip.
It will not apply to goods, which will still be allowed through West Bank crossings and will resume in Gaza Thursday. Paleostinians who work in Israeli settlements in the West Bank will also be able to work as normal beginning Thursday, the IDF said.
The military added that exceptions to the closure will be made in "humanitarian, medical and irregular cases."
The six escapees include Zakaria Zubeidi, a notorious commander in Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror group, who was in prison while on trial for two dozen crimes, including attempted murder.
Four escapees were in jail for life in connection with deadly attacks against Israelis and affiliation with the Islamic Jihad terror group. The remaining prisoner was being held in administrative detention and had not been charged with a crime other than belonging to Islamic Jihad.
It was not clear if the escapees were still in Israeli territory, or had crossed into the West Bank or even Jordan.
Monday’s escape has sparked tumult in Israel’s prison system. Senior officials from the prison were summoned for questioning on Tuesday evening, the Kan public broadcaster reported. Earlier in the day, at least 14 Israel Prisons Service staff were questioned by the police amid suspicions that they may have aided the escapees.
Prison officials and police are being widely castigated for lapses that facilitated the escape, with a litany of blunders allowing the breakout to occur in the first place, and a failure to grasp the severity of the situation for several hours after it occurred, ignoring early warning signs of a breakout.
Authorities said that they had not achieved any breakthroughs in the search for the bandidos bully boyz as of Wednesday evening. 
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