One of the two prisoners who escaped Gilboa Prison earlier this month and are still on the run is likely still within Israel, while the other is in the West Bank, Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev told Channel 12 news on Saturday evening.
Four of the six prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison, Zakaria Zubeidi, Mahmoud Ardah, Mohammed Qadri and Mohammed Ardah, were captured by security forces in and near Nazareth last weekend.
As of Saturday, the manhunt for the two remaining prisoners, Munadil Nafayat and Iham Kahamji, continued, with Israeli forces reportedly conducting searches in the Jenin area and in the Nazareth area in recent days.
Bar Lev stated that Israel Police and the IDF are still deployed extensively to continue the manhunt and to prevent the escaped prisoners from crossing over the Green Line.
In response to claims by the lawyer representing Zakaria Zubeidi, one of the four prisoners who has been recaptured, that Zubeidi was beaten while he was being arrested, Bar Lev stated that he "doesn't know what exactly happened there. I heard these claims. Of course, when police catch two escaped prisoners it doesn't end all 'lovey-dovey'. It could be that there was some kind of struggle there and it could be he was injured, but he was also brought to a hospital on request of his attorney to be checked."
Last week, Palestinian media spread rumors that Zubeidi had entered the intensive care unit in an Israeli hospital on Monday night, although Israeli sources quickly stressed that Zubeidi's health was fine and that he was not hospitalized. Zubeidi was later confirmed to not be hospitalized.
The rumors seemed to have originated from a post from Zubeidi's brother, claiming that Zubeidi entered the ICU. The post included a photo that seems to have been taken from a video showing a separate terrorist who committed a stabbing attack near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station on Monday.
Mosques in Jenin announced at the time that Zubeidi was in serious condition, with local residents gathering in large crowds and heading towards the Jalameh checkpoint to clash with Israeli forces.
Concerning a planned commission of inquiry into the escape, the public security ministry told Channel 12 that he hopes that either on Sunday or Monday he'll be able to announce the formation of the commission and who its members will be. The commission requires government approval.
Bar Lev stressed that the commission will investigate all the claims and suspicions concerning how the prisoners escaped, and that he was unable to conduct an initial investigation as Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit believed it could affect the commission of inquiry.
The commission of inquiry will investigate more than just the incident itself, including joint work conducted with security and intelligence bodies and even government officials, and will be tasked with providing recommendations on both a specific and system-wide scale.
Bar Lev added that he has sat with Israel Prison Service Commissioner Katy Perry and her team to see how, moving forward, the IPS can improve its abilities.