Hamas said hunting for fugitive ‘Israeli agent’ after jailbreak

Hamas security forces were scouring the Gaza Strip over the weekend in search of a man who escaped from a maximum-security prison, Palestinian media reported Sunday.

The fugitive was identified as 35-year-old Abed Alkrim Abu Ouda, who served as a member of Hamas’s military wing before he was arrested by the terror group in 2019 on suspicion of mapping underground tunnels with a tracking device he allegedly received from his Israeli handlers.

It was not clear how Abu Ouda, who was being held in the Ansar Prison, managed to escape.

Hamas has arrested a number of suspects on suspicion of helping Abu Ouda, according to Palestinian media.

Authorities also set up checkpoints and deployed dozens of security officers in several parts of the Gaza Strip, especially near the border with Israel.

The terrorist group even postponed all fishing activities for several hours on Saturday out of fear he would escape the Strip via the sea.

According to some Palestinian media outlets, Abu Ouda managed to cross into Israel.

While the IDF did report over the weekend that an individual had tried to cross the border fence, there was no indication that person was Abu Ouda.