Palestinian sources reported on Thursday evening that 14 members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement, escaped from the Jneid Palestinian prison in the northern West Bank City of Nablus.Mahdi Abu Ghazala, one of the 14 Brigades members who escaped, stated that the fighters decided to leave prison after the administration failed to implement and commit itself to an agreement reached with them before they were detained.
Some of the fighters who escaped were identified as Omar Akoub, Ala’ Akoub, Mahdi Abu Ghazala, Steven Anabtawi, Amjad Anabtawi, Mohammad Al Shansheer, Saleh Abu Al Hayyat, Sufian Qandeel and Imad Al Sawalhy.
Israeli sources reported that the fleeing fighters are negotiating with Palestinian security officials in Nablus.
21 Aqsa Brigades fighters in Nablus previously handed their weapons to the Palestinian Authority after agreeing to be detained in Jneid prison following an agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
The agreement states that Israel will grant the fighters a full “pardon” in a later undefined stage, yet the fighters repeatedly complained to bad conditions in detention.
Israeli also conditioned that the fighters should remain imprisoned, denied access to weapons and denied any contact with resistance factions.
The agreement also states that several fighters, wanted by Israel, are to be detained at the Palestinian Security Services headquarters, others in Jericho Palestinian Prison and other in Jneid Prison in Nablus.
The fighters were pardoned by Israel under an agreement with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Israel claims that the fighters began a three-month probation period and hat this period ended last October.
