Security forces were conducting a widespread search this week for two Palestinian militants who escaped from an Israeli jail by digging a tunnel underneath the prison walls.
During Sunday’s morning roll call, the two inmates were discovered missing from the Ashmoret prison at Beit Lid, near Tel Aviv.
The two are members of the Islamic Jihad, a fundamentalist group that violently opposes the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.
One of the escapees was serving a 17-year sentence for stabbing an Israeli, the other a 12-year sentence for killing an Arab suspected of collaborating with Israeli authorities.
When Israeli forces withdrew from areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, some Palestinians jailed for security offenses were transferred to prisons inside Israel.
Prison officials said the “very thin” men had escaped through a tunnel that was only some 16 inches high.
Public Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani appointed a special team to investigate the escape.
The commissioner of Israel’s Prison Authority said he would resign if the investigative team found him personally responsible.
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