In a video that sparked widespread outrage, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is seen threatening Palestinian prisoners with execution, taunting their suffering, and boasting about systematically stripping them of their basic rights.
The footage, filmed during Ben Gvir’s visit to Nitzan Prison, shows him ordering detainees—shackled and seated on the floor—to obey him. “Everyone sits on the floor, as you should,” he barks, looming over the prisoners, flanked by Israeli security forces.
Ben Gvir then mocks the detainees, sneering that they will be denied chocolate, jam, television, and radio. “You’re not getting any of it. Everything simple has been taken from you on purpose,” he declares. He concludes by openly calling for their execution, branding them “terrorists.”
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The Israeli minister’s statements drew sharp condemnation from Palestinian rights groups and resistance factions, who cited the video as further proof of Israel’s escalating campaign of institutionalized cruelty and collective punishment.
In a statement on Telegram, Hamas condemned Ben-Gvir’s threats Thursday as “a live broadcast of systematic torture and humiliation,” calling him “a fascist war criminal” and warning that his behavior reflects the violent, racist ideology embedded within the Israeli state.
“The world has now witnessed the depth of the Zionist regime’s criminality—hands drenched in the blood of innocents,” the statement read. It added that the minister’s comments mirrored the abuse endured by Palestinian martyrs, whose bodies were recently returned from Israeli custody, mutilated beyond recognition.
On Wednesday, hundreds in Gaza mourned and buried 54 Palestinian martyrs whose corpses, returned by Israeli forces through the International Committee of the Red Cross, showed signs of brutal torture so extreme that identification proved nearly impossible.
Earlier this week, Israel returned 135 disfigured bodies of Palestinian prisoners held at Sde Teiman, a military detention center in the Naqab desert, to authorities in Gaza.
The corpses bore signs of strangulation, severe beatings, and extreme abuse. The paper refused to publish the images, citing their horrifying content.
Human rights groups have demanded a full international investigation into systematic torture and extrajudicial killings inside Sde Teiman.
Reports detail how detainees were handcuffed, blindfolded, strapped to hospital beds, and forced to wear diapers—degrading practices confirmed by photo evidence and testimonies of Palestinian detainees were released during the current phase of the ceasefire.
These revelations have intensified calls from Palestinian civil society, legal experts, and global rights organizations for immediate intervention by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.
They demand accountability, an end to Israeli impunity, and protection for prisoners subjected to state-sanctioned violence.
As Ben-Gvir—a minister with a long record of incitement, racism, and anti-Palestinian violence—continues to make headlines, the video serves as a visceral reminder of Israel’s increasing reliance on carceral terror and unchecked authoritarianism against Palestinians under occupation.
