The head of the armed branch of the Islamic Resistance movement Hamas, Mohammad Deif, escaped five days ago from a Palestinian prison, a source close to the movement said in Gaza Wednesday.
"The chief of the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammad Deif, succeeded in escaping from a Palestinian prison," the source said.
Deif, the most wanted man in Israel, had been held in prison the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security prison for the past seven months.
Preventive Security officials contacted by AFP declined to confirm or deny that Deif had escaped.
The Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades have claimed responsibility for a number of anti-Israeli attacks since 1994.
Most recently, they claimed to have carried out a car bombing in the northern Israeli town of Hadera, in which two Israelis died and 55 others were injured.
Hamas is violently opposed to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and has been urging the Palestinians to expand their uprising against Israel -- GAZA CITY (AFP)
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