Members of the Keter unit, an Israeli prison service response unit, seen during an operation where Hamas Nukhba terrorists are being held, at the Ofer Prison near Jerusalem, Aug 28, 2024. (Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Israel’s Prison Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi told the Knesset National Security Committee that imprisoned senior officials from both the Hamas terrorist group and the Fatah party, which controls the Palestinian Authority have indicated they intended to wage war against Israel from within the Israeli prison system.
“You will end the war outside; we will start it in prison,” one imprisoned Hamas official told Yaakobi.
An imprisoned, high-ranking official in Fatah, also known as the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, made a similar threat.
“We will have our Independence Day inside the prison,” the Fatah official was quoted as saying by Yaakobi.
It is unclear how many members of Hamas and Fatah are currently being held in Israeli prisons.
Left-wing activist group “B’tselem” – which dubs itself “the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories” – claims that 9,440 Palestinians were being held in Israeli prisons or detention centers as of the end of June.
Yaakobi’s remarks were delivered to the Knesset’s National Security Committee.
He also told the Knesset that the Israeli prison system is preparing for the possibility that prisoners will attempt to carry out these threats.
“These quotes reverberate with me, and I am preparing myself with the means and preparing the team accordingly,” he said.
