Hamas prisoner draws dagger on jailer, is overpowered
Incident at Ketziot Prison comes day after two prison officers are injured in a stabbing at same facility
A Hamas prisoner pulled out an improvised dagger during a routine search at the Ketziot prison in southern Israel on Monday.
The prisoner was quickly overpowered by officers and there were no injuries in the incident, the Israel Prisons Service said in a statement.
The incident came shortly after Hamas, a Gaza-based terror group which seeks to destroy Israel, earlier warned Israel against “continuing policies of suppression” against inmates in the prison.
“Our struggling Palestinian people, its forces and resistance stand behind [the prisoners] and will not give up on their duty in defending them and supporting them until they are liberated,” the terror group said in a statement on its official website.
On Sunday evening, Hamas prisoners stabbed two guards at the Ketziot prison, injuring one of them seriously. The attack sparked a riot in which 11 inmates were also reported hurt.
The badly wounded guard sustained stab wounds to the neck, while the second was lightly hurt with a hand injury. The guards were airlifted to the nearby Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba for treatment. The hospital later said that the condition of the guard had stabilized and he was listed in a moderate condition.
According to Hebrew reports, the guards were attacked with improvised weapons fashioned into knives. The riot came as security prisoners were being moved between cells, and during an ongoing effort by Israel to restrict cellphone usage by the prisoners, including the installation of jamming systems.
Eleven prisoners were injured and hospitalized after security forces quelled the riot. Seven of the prisoners were also airlifted to hospital by the IDF, the Haaretz daily reported. Their condition was not immediately clear, with the Israel Prison Service saying they were “in various conditions.”
The prison service said the situation was under control, but gave no details on how it put down the riot.
The incident came a week after Hamas prisoners in the Ramon prison torched 14 beds, setting a fire in the wing. The blaze was quickly extinguished and no injuries were reported. In that incident too, prisoners were protesting restrictions on cellphone usage.
