Two Israeli Arab prisoners succeeded in fleeing to Syria on Monday night. Two relatives of one of the men have been arrested on suspicion of assisting in his escape.
One of the prisoners, 20-year-old Mohammed Yassin, was serving a 25-year sentence for murder.
He, two of his relatives and the second prisoner made their way to the border fence in the Golan on Monday evening. Yassin and the other prisoner slipped through while his relatives kept watch. Soldiers were alerted to activity along the fence, but the two prisoners managed to escape as they arrived.
The men who assisted them, ages 22 and 24 from Tamara and Jaljuliya, were arrested. They confessed to assisting in the escape.
Yassin was on a 12-hour leave from prison. Israeli prisoners are often granted permission to leave jail for short periods of time as a reward for good behavior.