The capture of the last two terrorist fugitives of the group of six who broke out of Gilboa Prison on the eve of Rosh Hashanah was successful thanks to "excellent intelligence, professional operations, determination, and the unit fighters' desire to get their hands on them," head of the Israel Police's Counter-Terrorism Unit, Cmdr. H., tells Israel Hayom.
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Overnight between Saturday and Sunday, counter-terror forces were scrambled – along with special forces from the Shin Bet security agency and the IDF – to Jenin, where the last two fugitives were hiding in a local home.
"From the moment of the prison break, we were working with the Border Police, the Shin Bet, and the IDF to hunt down the escaped terrorists," explains Chief Supt. S., who commands the company that executed the arrests.
"We were operating in a few different areas at the same time, both in Israel and in Judea and Samaria. We always knew that Jenin was the 'hottest' spot, and we were prepared for that, along with the Shin Bet's operational unit, especially as there was a clear indication that one of them had crossed the security barrier," S. adds.
At 1:39 a.m. Sunday, after the Shin Bet supplied precise intelligence, the forces crossed the border and entered the outskirts of Jenin.
"We received the intelligence from the Shin Bet around midnight, quickly prepared for combat, and arrived at the home, which was the terrorists' safe house. We showed up at a residential building in east Jenin, which is home to families that are uninvolved [in the prison break].
"The first thing we did was to close and surround the building, covertly, especially since we had realized that innocent families were inside. We used small arms to fire shots at the walls, to make it clear to the terrorists that the army had them surrounded," S. explains.
At 1:45, one of the terrorists phoned his father and informed him that he intended to turn himself in. At 2:08 the arrest was complete, with no one wounded.
"When we had them in custody we realized that we'd brought things full circles, and there was a sense of satisfaction. We carry out complicated operations around the clock. We're happy we managed to capture the last two terrorists, and end the hunt," S. adds.
H. notes: "From the moment of the prison break we were operating constantly, in full cooperation with the Shin Bet's operational units. The action was twofold: one in Judea and Samaria, to locate the fugitives, and the second inside the Green Line, to prevent the terrorists from carrying out an attack."
According to H., "the excellent cooperation between the Counter-Terrorism Unit, the Shin Bet, and the IDF doubles the strategic power in the battle against terrorism."
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