Israeli forces attack Palestinian protesters supporting escaped prisoners

Scores of Palestinians in the West Bank were injured on Thursday when Israeli soldiers attacked protesters demonstrating in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Israel's Gilboa Prison. 

More than 100 Palestinians were injured after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas, live ammunition and rubber bullets at crowds who were waving Palestinian flags and chanting "freedom", the Palestine Red Crescent said.

The attacks on protesters reportedly took place in the Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron; the town of Dura, south of Hebron; and in al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, according to local sources. 

"We came out in solidarity with our prisoners in the occupier’s jails," Jihad Abu Adi, a protester, was quoted by Reuters as saying. “It’s the least we could do for our heroic prisoners.”

The six Palestinian detainees who managed to break out of the maximum-security Gilboa Prison on Monday have still not been caught and are the subjects of an Israeli search.

The fugitives include five members of Islamic Jihad and Zakaria Zubeidi, a prominent Palestinian leader who is tied to Fatah, the secular movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev said in a statement on Thursday that he and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had agreed to form a commission of inquiry led by a retired judge into the jailbreak as they continue their manhunt.