Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir has openly boasted about the harsh detention conditions he has imposed on Palestinian prisoners.
In footage shared on his personal Telegram channel, Ben Gvir addresses the camera while pointing at a dozen detainees face down in front of an Israeli flag -- many of whom were illegally abducted from Gaza during Israel's genocidal war on the territory.
"Do you see them? This is how they are now -- but one thing remains to be done, and that is to execute them," the far-right minister says.
Ben Gvir, who is known for his inflammatory remarks, has threatened to stop voting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition if his bill calling for the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners is not put to a parliamentary vote by 9 November.
In a lengthy caption posted with the video on Friday, Ben Gvir boasted about the harsh detention conditions imposed on more than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, where human rights groups report torture, starvation, and medical neglect, leading to multiple deaths.
"I am proud of the revolution in the prisons, unlike anything since the founding of the state; today, instead of a summer camp, there is deterrence. There are no more smiles there -- we erase them," he wrote.
"They are afraid, trembling, and the number of attacks has fallen remarkably," he added, referring to Palestinian abductees.
Separately, the International Committee of the Red Cross's director-general, Pierre Krahenbuhl, condemned Israel's order this week banning the ICRC from visiting Palestinians held under a law that permits their indefinite detention.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) also condemned the decision, saying that the continued blocking of ICRC access under the pretext of "security concerns" allows prison authorities to escalate abuse against detainees, including slow and deliberate killing, while hiding evidence of mistreatment.
It added that dozens of detainees have been tortured to death or executed since the war began, making this the deadliest period in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement.
In August, Ben Gvir released a video showing him confronting Marwan Barghouti, the highest-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody, in his prison cell.
Barghouti, a member of a group of Palestinian lifers, was among those Palestinian resistance groups sought to have released in a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire-prisoner swap.
He has survived multiple rounds of abuse and torture by Israeli guards and is called the "Palestinian Mandela" by supporters -- one of the few figures accepted as a leader by all political factions.
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