Fires flare in Israeli prisons amid manhunt for 6 escapees

Pressure is building around Israel's prison system after fires broke out at several facilities and the government searched for six Palestinian escapees who have been on the run since they tunneled out two days earlier

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Pressure built around Israel's prison system Wednesday after fires broke out at several facilities and the government searched for six Palestinian escapees who have been on the run since they tunneled out two days earlier. Fires were reported at several prisons amid efforts to try to move inmates as a precautionary measure. An umbrella group representing prisoners from all Palestinian factions called on prisoners to resist being relocated to other facilities and to start fires in their cells if guards try to move them by force. The prisoners group also threatened a widespread hunger strike. The Israel Prison Service said through a spokesperson that a fire broke out in two cells in different wings of Ramon Prison and that the blaze was brought under control. The Palestinian prisoners group reported fires in Ketziot Prison, and there were media reports of more unrest. Recriminations reportedly rippled through Israel's prison system, meanwhile, in the wake of the country's largest jailbreak of its kind in decades. The six men who escaped, between 26 and 49 years old, apparently dug a tunnel out of Gilboa prison near the occupied West Bank and escaped early Monday.