''We dug for 9 months': Terrorists who escaped from Gilboa prison reveal new details

September 15, 2021   

Two of the terrorists who escaped from Gilboa prison last Monday, Muhammad and Mahmoud Aarda, said that the excavations on Hula Road began in December 2020 - about nine months ago. Obey the 'Torah' and celebrate Sukkot safely: This way you are 10 times more protected According to Mahmoud Abdullah Aarda, the terrorist who planned the escape, he and the other terrorists who escaped did not receive help from other prisoners. The terrorists made the statement through their lawyers, Khaled Mahajnah and Raslan Mahajnah. "We started the excavations in December 2020 and they continued until this month," they said. According to them, after leaving prison, they arrived together at the mosque in the village of Na'ura and from there they split into pairs. Aarda said that the terrorists were trying to reach Judea and Samaria, and that they followed the news using three small radios. "During the escape, we had a small radio from which we followed what was happening outside." The prisoners' words were quoted by the Ma'an news agency and translated by Channel 13. "We tried as much as possible not to enter Palestinian villages within the borders of 48 (Israeli territory) so as not to arouse suspicion." Mahmoud Abdullah Aarda, who was first captured along with Yaakov Kadri in Nazareth, said: "We were arrested by chance and no one from Nazareth reported us. "He passed a police patrol and when he noticed us, he stopped us." He also said that they decided to involve terrorist Zakaria Zubaidi in the escape plan one month before it was carried out. He also noted that he had managed to shave two hours before he was captured. According to the lawyers from Hajna, the prisoners had not drunk a single drop of water since they escaped until the day they were captured - which led them to exhaustion. The Palestinian media also published quotes from a meeting held tonight between the lawyer and Aarda's brother, Muhammad Aarda, who was captured with Zakaria Zubaidi. According to the lawyer, Al-Aarda claims that he suffers from bruises all over his body, bruises that were caused during his arrest and interrogation. Aarda also claims that his head was slammed against the ground and that he has not yet received medical treatment. He added that he has only slept 10 hours since Saturday. The lawyers also described the moment Muhammad Aarda, who was captured with Zubaidi, was captured: "After almost The search for the place where they were hiding ended; they were discovered by chance after one of the searchers reached out and grabbed Muhammad.".

Zacharias Zbeidi told his defense attorney, Avigdor Feldman, in a meeting he held this morning that the other prisoners shared with him about digging the tunnel a month before the escape.

According to a report in Kan News, the day before the escape he was informed that the tunnel was ready and asked to move to their cell. He said the move was easy and his request was approved immediately. Zubeidi also said that there was no plan after the escape, and the decision to go towards Na'ura, north of the prison, was spontaneous.

According to Zubeidi, at the mosque in Na'ura, the escapees were not allowed to enter or use the telephone.

At this point, a disagreement arose between the terrorists: Zubeidi wanted to march towards the Palestinian Authority territories, while the other prisoners insisted on trying to obtain a vehicle with the help of another person. After failing in their attempt to obtain a vehicle, they decided to split up. Zubeidi also said that he was injured during the arrest, but that he was not treated violently during his interrogation.

The search for the two terrorists who have not yet been caught continues today. Some 800 police officers, Border Guard soldiers, and members of the General Security Service and special units are participating in the searches. Large police forces are deployed in cities and towns in the valleys area, mainly in crowded places and near synagogues.