Thousands of Palestinians gathered in different cities in the occupied Palestinian territories on Friday, September 10, to observe a “day of rage” following the protest in opposition to increased Israeli aggression following the escape of six prisoners from its high security jail in Gilbao on Monday. As of Saturday morning, Israel claimed that it captured four of the six escapees.
YESTERDAY: Palestinian refugees protest in UNRWA's Baqa'a camp in Jordan in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Photos by Activestills. pic.twitter.com/EoT4QF70Wt
— Activestills (@activestills) September 11, 2021
Friday was the third day of such protests called by Hamas and other Palestinian groups amid increased repression against Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails and against the families and relatives of the escaped prisoners. Several Palestinian groups such as Addameer have called these punitive measures as a from of collective punishment which is a violation of international human rights.
Protests were organized in cities such as Nablus, Bethlehem, Gaza, Ramallah and others to demand the end of Israeli repression and harassment and asked the international community to pressurise Israel to stop its witch hunt.
Friday’s protests were met with violent repression by Israeli forces who fired tear gas and live ammunition on them in order to disrupt the gatherings. According to the Palestinian Information Center at least 40 Palestinians were injured in the attacks carried out by the occupation forces.
On Wednesday September 8, in similar protests across the West Bank, more than 100 Palestinian protesters were injured when Israeli forces opened fire on them.
Four re-arrested
Meanwhile, Israel claimed on Saturday, September 11 that it has captured at least four of the six escapees. Its security forces claimed that two Palestinian prisoners were arrested from a parking lot in the northern Israeli town of Shibli-Umm-al-Ghanam. Two others were arrested from Nazareth on Friday night. The prisoners arrested so far are identified as Mahmoud Aredah, Yakoub Qadri and Mohammed Aredah (all three of them members of Islamic Jihad) and Zakariye Zubeidi (member of the Fatah’s now disbanded Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade).
Given the record of the Israeli occupation, we have every reason to believe that Mahmoud Ardah and Yaqoub Qadri will be subjected to severe torture and abuse in an attempt to garner information on the whereabouts of their four liberated brothers. https://t.co/XC7XhGeHzx
— Samidoun Network (@SamidounPP) September 11, 2021
The two prisoners still at large are identified as Ayham Kamamji and Monadel Nafi’at. Both of them are members of Islamic Jihad.
The news of the re-arrest of two prisoners on Friday led to late night protests across the West Bank cities. Similar protests broke out again on Saturday morning in Jenin, Bethlehem and other places, Palestinian Wafa new agency reported.
