UPDATE 2 - 6 Palestinian prisoners escape from Israeli prison

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Said Amouri and Zain Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Six Palestinian prisoners escaped from Israel's northern Gilboa Prison early Monday, Israeli media reported.

State broadcaster Kan quoted the Israeli Prisons Service as saying that the detainees tunneled out of the high-security prison.

It said five of the prisoners belonged to the Islamic Jihad movement, and one was a former commander of the Fatah group.

Israel's daily Maariv newspaper reported that a police contingent had arrived at the prison, and a security operation was launched.

All the inmates were serving life sentences, according to the Israeli website Walla news.

Haaretz newspaper said the six were cellmates and the tunnel they dug reached dozens of meters in depth.

In a statement, Israeli police said it has launched a manhunt for the six detainees.

According to the statement, police erected roadblocks in the prison surroundings and launched an operation to hunt down the escapees.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a security meeting with the participation of top officials, including Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Minister of Public Security Omer Barlev, and Army Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi to discuss the repercussions of the prison break, according to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

Police deployed more than 200 roadblocks across the country as part of the manhunt for the escapees. Police also issued a gag order regarding investigations into the prison break.

Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups hailed the prison break.

In a statement, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum termed the prison break as a “big victory”.

"This victory proves again that the will and determination of our prisoners in the [Israeli] prisons are invincible and undefeatable whatsoever the challenges are," said Barhoum.

Islamic Jihad said the escape of the detainees was a "resounding defeat" to Israel.

"This heroic operation will deepen the [Israeli] occupation failure and its inability," it added in a statement.

*Mahmoud Barakat and Ahmed Asmar in Ankara contributed to this report