Palestinians in the occupied West Bank refugee camp of Jenin have taken to the streets to celebrate after six Palestinian inmates broke out of a high-security Israeli prison, People gathered on the streets and handed out sweets in the hometown of one of the escapees.

Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip have also celebrated the news.

The notorious Gilboa prison where the inmates escaped from is located about four kilometers from the West Bank and is one of the most highest-security and heavily guarded prisons for Palestinians in Israel. The facility has been described as a dungeon for Palestinians serving life sentences for “anti-Israeli activities”.

A Palestinian prisoner’s organization says four of the men were serving life sentences adding that the resistance members on the run range in age from 26 to 49 years old, with one of them detained by Tel Aviv since 1996.

Among the six former inmates is also Zakaria Zubeidi, 46, who had been jailed since 2019 and was a former commander of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank town of Jenin during the second Palestinian uprising, which began in September 2000.

The Israeli regime’s military and other forces have started a search for the six Palestinians. The Israeli Prisons Service says five of the inmates belong to the Islamic Jihad resistance movement and one is a former commander of a resistance group affiliated with the mainstream Fatah party. It was not immediately clear whether they had help from outside to orchestrate the operation.

Islamic Jihad called the breakout “a heroic act that will shock the Zionist defense system.” The group commended them in a statement for “snatching their freedom with their fingertips from under the eyes and ears of the occupier.”

Several other Palestinian factions hailed the jailbreak as a slap in the face of the Israeli regime. The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, hailed the escape as “heroic”. Lebanon’s Hezbollah also extended its congratulations to the Palestinian people and resistance groups on the success of the prison break describing it as one of a kind.

The mother of one of the prisoners, Umm Mahmoud Al-Arada, said that she doesn't know where her son is, but hopes he has traveled to another country.

Israeli media have cited Israeli authorities as saying they are planning to move 400 other inmates to other prisons to avoid any other embarrassing jailbreaks for the regime.

Arik Yaacov, the service’s northern commander, claims the escapees appeared to have opened a hole from their prison cell toilet floor to access passages formed by the prison's construction. Reports say they fled via an underground tunnel that the inmates are believed to have spent months digging. Photos have circulated in Israeli media of a hole in the ground outside the prison, purporting to show the end of the escape route.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office says the premier has spoken with Israeli security officials and emphasized that this is a “grave incident” that requires an across-the-board effort by the regime’s forces to hunt down the escapees.

A military spokesman says Israeli forces believe the freed Palestinians might try to reach the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in some area, or the Jordanian border some 14 km to the east.

Israeli security forces have launched a manhunt for the Palestinian prisoners. Regime forces have been deployed in large numbers, setting up roadblocks after the rare jailbreak from the prison in northern Israel. Security forces are patrolling streets in the north and the occupied West Bank, as helicopters are flying above.