Israel raids terrorist prison wings at 6:29 am on October 7 anniversary

Israel’s prison services marks third anniversary of October 7 invasion with coordinated raids on terrorist wings of five prisons, coinciding with the moment the Hamas attacks began three years ago.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel Prison Service forces launched coordinated raids on security-prisoner wings at five prisons across the country at exactly 6:29 am Wednesday, marking three years to the minute since Hamas began its October 7 massacre.

The large-scale operation targeted cells and wings housing security prisoners, including terrorists, as prison authorities stepped up precautions against possible disturbances or attacks connected to the anniversary.

Specialized teams carried out extensive searches for prohibited items while prison authorities sought to reinforce control inside the facilities and prevent attempts to harm guards or disrupt order.

The timing was deliberately symbolic. Hamas began its October 7, 2023 assault at approximately 6:29 am with a massive rocket barrage as thousands of terrorists breached the Gaza border and invaded southern Israeli communities.

Across Israel on Wednesday morning, memorial ceremonies and moments of silence also began at 6:29 to commemorate the third anniversary of the massacre.

Inside the prison system, however, the anniversary was marked with an operational show of force.

Personnel from the Israel Prison Service’s northern, central and southern districts took part in the raids alongside members of several specialized units, including the elite Metzada hostage-rescue and riot-control unit, the Nachshon prisoner-escort unit, district tactical teams, first-response forces and prison intelligence investigators.

The Prison Service said the searches were intended “to strengthen control and governance in the incarceration facilities, locate prohibited items and thwart in advance any attempt to disturb order or harm the security of the prisons and staff.”

Authorities did not immediately disclose which five prisons were targeted or announce whether weapons, communications devices or other prohibited items had been discovered during Wednesday’s searches.

The Prison Service said intensified operations are routinely carried out around dates considered particularly sensitive because of the possibility that terrorist organizations or affiliated prisoners could attempt to coordinate protests, violence or attacks.

“Israel Prison Service will continue to act resolutely to maintain order, governance and the security of the incarceration facilities, and to thwart any threat emanating from them,” the agency said.

Wednesday’s operation follows a series of raids conducted since October 7 as prison authorities have sought to prevent terrorist organizations from maintaining control structures inside Israeli jails.

A nationwide operation in July involved many of the same specialist units and targeted prohibited materials and suspected preparations for violence. Officers uncovered various banned items during searches at facilities across the country.

The anniversary also carries particular security significance inside the prison system because of an attempted coordinated uprising uncovered ahead of the first anniversary of the massacre in 2024.

In the days before October 7 that year, intelligence indicated that security prisoners at several facilities were preparing disturbances to coincide with the anniversary.

Special forces subsequently stormed prison wings containing convicted terrorists, including Hamas Nukhba terrorists who had participated in the massacre.

Officers uncovered improvised knives and other potentially dangerous objects during those raids.

Investigators also found evidence supporting intelligence that prisoners had tampered with electrical wiring in their cells and intended to use concealed wires to strangle prison guards.

That discovery reinforced concerns within the Prison Service that inmates with significant combat and terrorist experience posed a different security challenge from the prison population that existed before the war.

Prison Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi has repeatedly warned that Israel’s prisons themselves should be regarded as another potential front in the country’s conflict with terrorist organizations.

“We’re talking about a new population — fighters, Nukhba operatives, naval commandos and tunneling and sabotage experts, who demonstrated operational abilities on October 7,” Yaakobi told a Knesset committee during an earlier discussion of the challenges facing the prison system.

“Every count has become a more significant challenge,” he said, warning that prisoners were collecting makeshift weapons and that authorities were engaged in a constant effort to protect prison staff.

Yaakobi subsequently issued an even sharper warning about the possibility of major unrest as security prisoners increasingly lost hope of release.

“The hope of the security prisoners has turned into despair,” he told lawmakers. “We are on the brink of an event. The war is at our doorstep.”

Israel’s security-prisoner population grew dramatically after October 7 as thousands of Palestinians suspected or convicted of terrorist activity were arrested during the war.

Before the massacre, the Prison Service held roughly 16,200 inmates, of whom about 5,200 were classified as security prisoners. The number subsequently surged as Israel detained Hamas terrorists captured during the October 7 attack, operatives arrested during operations in Gaza and additional suspects detained in Judea and Samaria.

The changing population has forced the Prison Service to confront severe overcrowding as well as the security challenges posed by inmates with battlefield experience.

Authorities have responded by expanding prison capacity, increasing searches and restricting the ability of terrorist organizations to maintain internal hierarchies and privileges inside prison wings.

Yaakobi has described those changes as part of an effort to restore what the Prison Service calls “governance” inside the facilities.

Wednesday’s raids came as the rest of Israel marked October 7 with memorial ceremonies across the country.

President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal lit a memorial candle at the President’s Residence, while gatherings began at 6:29 am at the Nova festival site, Gaza-border communities and locations throughout Israel.

Police officers also observed a minute of silence at 6:29 at battle sites where members of the force were killed while fighting Hamas terrorists three years earlier.