6 Palestinians sentenced to extra 5 years for jail break

Six Palestinians were sentenced Sunday to an additional five years in jail for a 2021 escape through a tunnel from a prison in northern Israel, their lawyers told Israeli media. 

The six, already serving life terms for anti-Israeli attacks, escaped on September 6 last year from Gilbao prison through a tunnel dug under a sink.

Hailed as "heroes" by the Palestinians, their escape triggered a massive manhunt by army reinforcements and drones before their capture two weeks later.

Apart from the extra prison sentences, the men were each fined 5,000 shekels (about $160). 

"My client told the court he did not regret the escape because he had nothing to lose," lawyer Raslan Mahajana told reporters.

Among the escapees was Mahmud Ardah, a member of the militant Islamic Jihad group, considered the mastermind of the operation.

After he was recaptured, Ardah said he had used spoons, plates and even the handle of a kettle to dig the tunnel.

He escaped along with Zakaria al-Zubeidi, a chief of the armed branch of president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.

His brother, Daoud al-Zubeidi, was killed on May 15 in an Israeli army operation in Jenin refugee camp on the Israeli-occupied West Bank.