RAMALLAH, PALESTINE
Israeli security forces announced the arrest of two Palestinian inmates who escaped earlier this week.
Yacoub Qadri, 49, and Mahmoud Arda, 46, from Jenin, who were serving life sentences, were arrested in southern Nazareth after being on the lam for nearly five days.
Israeli prisons service announced Sept. 6 that six Palestinian inmates escaped from the Gilboa jail near Beit She’an. It is one of the most fortified prisons in Israel.
Since then, Israeli intelligence began an intensive search in surrounding cities.
Arda, who is one of the leaders of the “Al-Jihad Al-Islami” faction in the jails, has been in solitary confinement several times due to his attempts to escape.
Israeli security agencies accused him of being the leader of the escapees.
He has written books during his time in detention since 1996.
Qadri, also a member of the Al-Jihad Al-Islami faction, was arrested in 2003 because he participated in the military resistance during the Second Intifada. He has been in solitary confinement for six months.
Four inmates are still missing as the search to capture then continues.
