THE Fatah party branded revenge attacks on Palestinian prisoners a war crime today as Israeli occupation forces go on the offensive in response to six detainees escaping from a high-security jail earlier this week.

Fatah called for “an urgent popular uprising in all Palestinian cities, villages and camps,” promising to stand with the Palestinian people alongside the “heroic prisoners” after their daring jailbreak.

Israeli authorities started a brutal crackdown in the wake of the humiliating escape  from the maximum-security Gilbao prison, demanding their return “dead or alive.”

Relatives of the escapees have been arrested and intimidated while the occupied West Bank has been placed in lockdown as protests erupt against the Israeli occupation regime.

Palestinian inmates of Negev jail are alleged to have been tortured, with police dogs unleashed on them while they were shackled and handcuffed.

In response, some sections of the prison were set on fire by detainees protesting at their treatment by the Israeli authorities.

Prisoners are reported to have been transferred to other jails and denied their basic rights as a form of collective punishment.

More than 100 Palestinians were injured during protests on Wednesday evening as security forces attacked demonstrations called by the Palestine Liberation Organisation across the West Bank.

Palestinian youths in Nablus taunted Israeli troops by holding up spoons, symbolising the tools used by the prisoners to dig their escape tunnel.

Earlier this week, Israeli jets launched air strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip in what the territory’s Hamas rulers said was a response to the prison escape.

Fatah called on the international community to protect and liberate Palestinian political prisoners and demanded that the “Israeli war criminals” who led the revenge attacks be prosecuted.