A former Hamas military commander who was accused of spying for Israel has escaped from a maximum-security prison in the Gaza Strip.
The fugitive, Abed al-Karim Abu Odeh, 35, was arrested by Hamas in 2019 on suspicion of mapping underground tunnels with a tracking device he allegedly received from his Israeli handlers.
It was not clear how Abu Odeh, who was being held in the Ansar Prison in the Gaza Strip, managed to escape.
The rare escape is seen by many Palestinians as a severe embarrassment for Hamas.
Hamas has arrested a number of suspects on suspicion of helping Abu Odeh, according to a Palestinian journalist in the Gaza Strip