The last two of six Palestinians who broke out of a high-security prison nearly two weeks ago were detained in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, ending a massive manhunt by Israeli forces.
They were caught in the city of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, which lies less than 15 kilometres from the prison.
The pair “surrendered after being surrounded by security forces” and were detained along with two people accused of helping them, the Israeli military said in a statement.
Israeli police identified the fugitives as Munadel Infeiat, 26, and 35-year-old Ayham Kamamji and said they had been hiding in a house.
The latter’s father, Fouad Kamamji, told AP news agency that his son had called and said he had decided to surrender “in order not to endanger the house owners”.
According to local media reports, some Palestinians threw Molotov cocktails and stones at Israeli forces as they withdrew from the city.
The military said its forces also came under live fire as “several riots broke out in a number of different locations”.
The recaptured prisoners, most of whom are from Jenin, and their alleged accomplices were being interrogated on Sunday.
The breakout from Gilboa prison on September 6 proved deeply embarrassing for the Israeli security establishment, which has vowed to investigate how the six prisoners crawled out undetected.
It sparked a vast operation to track them down, which involved drones and hundreds of additional checkpoints.
The prison break was described on Sunday as a “severe mishap” by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who praised security forces for their “impressive, sophisticated and quick” operation to apprehend the fugitives.
Five of the men are members of the Islamic Jihad militant group while the sixth, Zakaria Zubeidi, previously led an armed wing of the Fatah movement.
Some of the escapees had been convicted of attacks against Israelis.
The six escapees have been celebrated as heroes by Palestinians, who have lauded their audacious plot to tunnel their way out of a cell.
Spoons have become a symbol of Palestinian resistance, after reports they were used by the prisoners to dig a hole under a sink.
A lawyer for Mahmud Abdullah Ardah, one of the four prisoners recaptured on September 10, said the group started to bore through the cell floor in December.
They used spoons, plates and a kettle handle, attorney Roslan Mahajana told AFP news agency.
Four of the runaways were detained in pairs near Nazareth, an Arab-Israeli city in northern Israel close to Gilboa prison. On Sunday, a Nazareth court extended their detention by 10 days.
Rallies have been held in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, in support of the escapees and other Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The men have been heralded as “freedom fighters” by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, though on Sunday there was no immediate comment on the arrests by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Palestinian Authority, led by Mr Abbas, has limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank and co-operates with Israel on security issues.
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Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
