A group of 14 wanted Palestinians incarcerated in a Nablus prison as part of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, escaped on Thursday.
Among the fugitives is Mahadi Abu Rizala, a prominent the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades operative. The men who escaped were seeking to protest the conditions of their imprisonment, which they say have not improved despite promises made by the PA.
Since their escape the wanted men have been negotiating with security officials in the West Bank city, who are demanding that the fugitives give themselves up immediately.
The prisoners were recently pardoned
by Israel as part of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority in which wanted al-Aqsa gunmen began a three-month probation period, which ended last October, and those who were not involved in terrorist activities were subsequently removed from Israel's list of wanted Palestinians.
As part of the agreement several of the wanted men continued to be detained at Palestinian security services headquarters while a second group was transferred to the PA's security facility in Jericho and a third group was taken to the Jenaid prison in Nablus.
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