JERUSALEM, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Six Palestinian militants broke out of a maximum security Israeli prison on Monday in a Hollywood-style escape that left their jailors peering through a hole in the floor of a cell, and had Palestinians celebrating in the streets.

Israeli security forces mounted a search in northern Israel after farmers tipped off police about suspicious figures seen in their fields in the early morning hours. Police then alerted officials at Gilboa prison, who discovered that the men had gone.

Hours after the escape, prison officials transferred some other inmates - Palestinians convicted or suspected of anti-Israeli activities including deadly attacks - to other jails, fearing similar tunnels had been dug.