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Palestinian escapee allegedly beaten by Israeli forces after being recaptured

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said Zakaria Zubeidi suffered physical injuries in Israeli custody.

A Palestinian youth prepares to throw a tire onto a fire following a rally in support of Palestinian prisoners near the West Bank town of Nablus last week. Zakaria Zubeidi, one of six Palestinians who broke out of Israel's Gilboa prison, was allegedly beaten after being recaptured Saturday.
A Palestinian youth prepares to throw a tire onto a fire following a rally in support of Palestinian prisoners near the West Bank town of Nablus last week. Zakaria Zubeidi, one of six Palestinians who broke out of Israel's Gilboa prison, was allegedly beaten after being recaptured Saturday. — JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli forces beat a Palestinian prisoner who escaped and was subsequently caught, a prisoners’ rights group alleged Wednesday. 

Zakaria Zubeidi was allegedly physically beaten during the operation to arrest him, and sustained a broken jaw and two broken ribs. He was treated at an Israeli hospital following the arrest, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said in a press release. 

Zubeidi, a senior commander of the ruling Fatah party's armed wing, escaped from the high-security Gilboa Prison last week along with five members of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad. Two of the prisoners were captured last Friday in the Israeli city of Nazareth, with Zubeidi and the fourth prisoner being found the following Saturday. The men were in prison in relation to attacks on Israelis. Two of the prisoners remain on the run. 

Prisoner Yaqoub Qadri was also allegedly tortured following his Friday capture. He was placed in a one-by-two-meter cell, his lawyer told the Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency. 

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