An attack by a number of armed persons early Thursday morning against Gaza Central Prison, left two prisoners dead and a number of members of the police injured. The attackers also kidnapped a third prisoner to the central Gaza Strip and tortured and killed him.
This attack was the third of its kind in the past six months.
According to preliminary investigations, at approximately 05:00 on Thursday, a number of armed persons broke into Gaza Central Prison inside the Palestinian security compound known as Saraya in the center of Gaza City. They were able to overcome the guards of the prison as they opened fire intensively and threw a number of hand grenades. Then, they moved to the rooms of the prison and killed two prisoners: Tha'er Jouda, 35; and Jihad al-Masar'ei, 30.
The two had been detained for accusations of committing two murders. The attackers also kidnapped a third prisoner, 26-year-old Hussein Sliman Abu Yousef, who was also accused of committing a murder, and took him to the central Gaza Strip, where they shot him dead. The victim was apparently subject to torture as there were signs of torture and some fractures on his body.
As a result of the gunfire and the exchange of fire inside the prison, five members of the Palestinian police were lightly injured.
