6 people broke out of an Israeli high-security prison by digging a tunnel from their cell, officials say
- Six people at Israel's Gilboa prison escaped via tunnel early Monday, reports say.
- Authorities found the tunnel entrance under a toilet in a cell shared by the escapees.
- Officials said they escaped at about 3 a.m. in a getaway car organized through a smuggled cellphone.
Six people tunneled their way out of a high-security Israeli prison early Monday, according to the Israeli government and local news reports.
Authorities at Gilboa prison discovered that prisoners were missing during a headcount conducted after a civilian spotted figures running near the prison walls at about 3 a.m., according to Haaretz.
Prison staff members later found an entrance to a tunnel under a toilet in a cell shared by the escapees, Haaretz reported.
All of those who escaped were identified as Palestinians accused or convicted of carrying out attacks against Israel, Haaretz said.
This video shows the tunnel entrance in the cell:
Israel's internal security service said the inmates used a smuggled cellphone to coordinate their escape and arrange for an escape car to meet them outside the prison walls, Haaretz reported.
These photos, shared by the Palestinian news agency Shehab, shows the exit of the tunnel outside the prison:
Israeli authorities are now hunting down the escapees, with the Israel Defense Forces operating roadblocks in the West Bank, Haaretz said. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Public Security Minister Omer Barlev on Monday to discuss the escape, the government said.
Israel's prison service told Reuters that five of the fugitives belonged to the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, a militant group.
One escapee, Zakaria Zubeidi, took part in an attack on a Likud party office in 2002 that killed six people, Haaretz said.
Shimon Lavi, a police official, told Haaretz that the 400 prisoners remaining in the prison would be moved elsewhere while the escape was investigated.
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine said the escape was "heroic" and would "shock the Israeli defense system," Haaretz reported.