Israeli court sentences Palestinian jailbreakers to five years

Police officers and prison guards inspect the scene of the escape (Sebastian Scheiner/AP)

Six Palestinian inmates have been sentenced to five years in prison for tunnelling out of their cell last year and escaping from a high-security Israeli facility in the biggest jailbreak of its kind in decades.

The incident in September sparked a massive manhunt in the country’s north and the occupied West Bank in search for the men, who were members of Palestinian militant groups. They were recaptured days later.