Tensions are rising in Israel after a senior Hamas official, currently imprisoned in the country, made statements suggesting potential riots within Israeli territory.
According to the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, Kobi Yakobi, head of the Israel Prison Service, told the Knesset Security Committee that the imprisoned Hamas leader had threatened unrest within Israel. Yakobi quoted the official as saying, “You will end the war outside (in Gaza), and we will start a new war from within.” He also reported that a high-ranking official from Fatah, a Palestinian political faction based in the West Bank, had claimed, “I will celebrate Independence Day in prison.”
Yakobi further raised concerns about the infiltration of Hamas operatives into Israeli prisons. He warned that organized crime groups, including Hamas, could disguise themselves as prison guards to infiltrate the system. “Senior members of criminal organizations are trying to penetrate our ranks,” Yakobi said, emphasizing the need to use lie detectors to prevent such breaches. He also highlighted that some guards had been caught attempting to smuggle weapons and other contraband into the prisons and were dismissed as a result.
Yakobi stressed the urgency of tight security measures, noting that Israel’s prisons now represent the nation’s eighth front in ongoing regional tensions, with the country facing threats from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and the West Bank.