Palestinian Prisoners Used Coca Cola to Escape Gilboa Prison

Gilboa prison, from which the Palestinian prisoners escaped. (EPA)
Gilboa prison, from which the Palestinian prisoners escaped. (EPA)
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Palestinian Prisoners Used Coca Cola to Escape Gilboa Prison

Gilboa prison, from which the Palestinian prisoners escaped. (EPA)
Gilboa prison, from which the Palestinian prisoners escaped. (EPA)

A report on the escape of six Palestinian prisoners from the Gilboa prison in early September has indicated that they likely crumbled the concrete on the floor of the cell using acid or Coca Cola soft drink.

The Israeli Army’s Combat Engineering Corps issued a report showing that the escape route of the prisoners included lifting a marble slab in the shower cubicle and digging a tunnel shaft through layers of steel and concrete to the space below.

“The prisoners dug a tunnel shaft under a marble slab in the shower cubicle, passing through the top tin (5 mm of steel) and through the ground floor (20 cm of concrete) into the underground space,” the report read.

It pointed to the fact that the concrete can be weakened and crumbled over time by using various acids, without the use of special means, “a cola drink can be used.”

“The length of the escape tunnel is about 35 meters, 29 meters of which they dug themselves, with an average diameter of 0.5 meters, which includes around 5-6 cubic meters of soil, they gradually disposed through the sewers.”

“The excavation material was used to line the excavated route inside the spaces of the link beams, saving the need to evacuate the excavation material into the prison,” it explained.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Prison Service (IPS) transferred the prisoners, who will be indicted on Sunday, to solitary confinement in various prisons.

According to Karim Ajwa, a lawyer in the Palestinian Authority's Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Committee, Mahmoud al-Ardah has been placed in a small and dirty cell in Ashkelon prison.

He is being monitored constantly in solitary confinement, including when he uses the toilet, depriving him of privacy.

He is considering a hunger strike if his prison conditions worsen in the coming days, Ajwa stressed.

Zakaria Zubeidi is being held in the notorious desert prison of Eshel in the Negev, in southern Israel, Ajwa said, while Ayham Kamةji has been moved to solitary confinement in Ohli Kedar prison, also in the Negev, Yaqoub Qadri to Rimonim prison and Munadel Nfeiat and Mahmoud Abdullah Ardah to Ayalon prison in Ramla.



Expats Flock to Lebanon Despite Fears of War with Israel

 A vehicle dressed like a double decker bus drives near revelers during the Beirut Street Festival in downtown Beirut on June 22, 2024. (AFP)
A vehicle dressed like a double decker bus drives near revelers during the Beirut Street Festival in downtown Beirut on June 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Expats Flock to Lebanon Despite Fears of War with Israel

 A vehicle dressed like a double decker bus drives near revelers during the Beirut Street Festival in downtown Beirut on June 22, 2024. (AFP)
A vehicle dressed like a double decker bus drives near revelers during the Beirut Street Festival in downtown Beirut on June 22, 2024. (AFP)

Expatriates flocked to Lebanon despite the international warnings against traveling to the country due to the rising tensions with Israel.

June alone witnessed the arrival of 400,000 people, the majority of whom are expatriates.

General Director of Civil Aviation Fadi al-Hassan told Asharq Al-Awsat that the number of arrivals is almost similar to the figures recorded last year.

As of June 24, 363,623 people arrived at Rafik Hariri International Airport, or around 10,000 and 16,000 people per day. The arrivals in June 2023 stood at 427,355.

“The recent tensions have not affected the number of arrivals,” al-Hassan added, noting: “We haven’t even reached the peak period of activity at the airport.”

France, home to tens of thousands of Lebanese expats, issued a travel warning against heading to Lebanon in April. The advisory did not deter Elie N. from traveling to Lebanon where he will stay for the next two months.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said he and hundreds of thousands of expatriates have been waiting impatiently for the summer to spend their vacation in their homeland.

“The constant threats of war will not stop us from visiting Lebanon,” he stressed.

President of the Syndicate of Travel and Tourist Agents in Lebanon Jean Abboud said activity at the airport should peak starting July 4 and 5.

He predicted that hotels will reach full capacity and the arrivals will top 12,000 – 13,000 per day. Beirut airport will receive 80 to 85 flights a day.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border strikes since the Oct. 7 attacks that launched the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and they have been escalating gradually.

The Israeli army said last week that it has “approved and validated” plans for an offensive in Lebanon, although any decision would come from the country’s political leaders.