Teams scan prisons in Israel after inmates escape

Special engineering teams started scanning prisons in Israel on Sunday following the escape of six Palestinian prisoners earlier this week.

Israeli police on Saturday said they had arrested four of the six Palestinians who broke out of a maximum-security prison - including a famed militant leader whose exploits over the years have made him a well-known figure in Israel.

Late on Saturday, the four re-captured prisoners appeared separately in court where prosecutors are pushing terrorist attack charges against them following their escape.

The arrests moved Israel closer to closing an embarrassing episode that exposed deep flaws in its prison system and turned the fugitive prisoners into Palestinian heroes.

The four wanted men were caught in a pair of arrests in northern Israel.

The six Palestinians tunnelled out of the Gilboa prison on Monday, setting off a furious manhunt across Israel and in the West Bank.