Ben-Gvir Calls For Execution of Palestinian Hostages with ‘Shot to the Head’

A leaked photograph of the Sde Teiman  detention facility shows a blindfolded man with his arms above his head (AP)
A leaked photograph of the Sde Teiman detention facility shows a blindfolded man with his arms above his head (AP)
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Ben-Gvir Calls For Execution of Palestinian Hostages with ‘Shot to the Head’

A leaked photograph of the Sde Teiman  detention facility shows a blindfolded man with his arms above his head (AP)
A leaked photograph of the Sde Teiman detention facility shows a blindfolded man with his arms above his head (AP)

Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called on Sunday for the execution of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails by shooting them in the head.
In a video statement, Ben-Gvir insisted that Palestinian prisoners should be killed with a ‘shot to the head’.
He urged the passing of the bill in the Israeli Knesset for executing prisoners, promising to provide minimal food to keep them alive until the law is enacted.
The Israeli Knesset's General Assembly approved the preliminary reading of the bill in early March 2023, which imposes the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners.
The proposed law, requiring two more readings in the Knesset to become effective, mandates courts to impose the death penalty on those “committing a murder offense motivated by racism and intending to harm the State of Israel.”
Fighting Any Palestinian Presence
Since October 7, 2023 when Israel waged a war on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian prisoners have been living in horrific conditions. Many died under torture or due to difficult living conditions.
According to the head of the Prisoners' Club, Abdullah Al-Zaghari, “The statements of fascist and extremist Minister Ben Gvir represent a system that practices genocide against the Palestinian people, and only speaks in the language of killing and fighting any Palestinian presence in any form.”
He noted that Ben Gvir's statements went beyond the stage of threat.
Since Israel waged its war on Gaza, “the occupation prison administration, which falls under Ben-Gvir’s authority, has actually executed Palestinian prisoners and detainees,” Al-Zaghari said.
The Israeli occupation forces have arrested more than 9,450 citizens from the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, since last October 7, along with thousands of citizens from Gaza, and hundreds of Palestinians from the territory occupied in 1948.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, there has been a simultaneous and unprecedented escalation of torture against detainees.
They also mentioned unprecedented crimes against detainees, most notably torture, starvation, medical neglect, forced disappearance, in addition to the tragic and cruel conditions of detention, mass isolation, and torture, apart from the tragic and cruel conditions of detention, mass isolation, and torture.
Unprecedented Arrests
The Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said the detainees include those arrested from their houses, on checkpoints, those who surrendered under pressure and those arrested as hostages.
They added that the detention campaigns carried out since October 7 are accompanied by escalated crimes and violations such as humiliation, brutal beatings, threats against detainees and their families, besides vandalism and destruction in detainees’ houses, confiscating vehicles, gold and money, in addition to the destruction of infrastructure.
The Commission and the Prisoners’ Club also confirmed that 18 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons and detention camps since Israel waged its war on the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, a CNN investigation revealed grave violations committed by Israel against Palestinians in the secret detention center located in the Negev Desert.
The American news channel said it spoke to three Israeli whistleblowers who worked at the Sde Teiman desert camp, which holds Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza. All spoke out at risk of legal repercussions and reprisals from groups supportive of Israel’s hardline policies in Gaza.
They paint a picture of a facility where doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures sometimes performed by underqualified medics earning it a reputation for being “a paradise for interns”; and where the air is filled with the smell of neglected wounds left to rot.
According to the accounts, the facility some 18 miles from the Gaza frontier is split into two parts: enclosures where around 70 Palestinian detainees from Gaza are placed under extreme physical restraint, and a field hospital where wounded detainees are strapped to their beds, wearing diapers and fed through straws.
“They stripped them down of anything that resembles human beings,” said one whistleblower, who worked as a medic at the facility’s field hospital.
After an outcry, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the military launched a probe into the allegations of mistreatment at detention facilities that fell under the responsibility of the Israeli army.
Last week, the Haaretz newspaper said Israel's High Court of Justice ordered the state to provide details of the conditions under which Gazan prisoners are held in the Sde Teiman detention center in southern Israel, despite the state's declaration that it intends to empty the facility.



US Adding Second Aircraft Carrier in Middle East

A photo released by the US military shows an F/A-18 Super Hornet warplane taking off from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025 - AFP
A photo released by the US military shows an F/A-18 Super Hornet warplane taking off from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025 - AFP
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US Adding Second Aircraft Carrier in Middle East

A photo released by the US military shows an F/A-18 Super Hornet warplane taking off from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025 - AFP
A photo released by the US military shows an F/A-18 Super Hornet warplane taking off from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025 - AFP

The United States is increasing the number of aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East to two, keeping one that is already there and sending another from the Indo-Pacific, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The announcement comes as US forces hammer Yemen's Houthis with near-daily airstrikes in a campaign aimed at ending the threat they pose to civilian shipping and military vessels in the region.

The Carl Vinson will join the Harry S. Truman in the Middle East "to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

"To complement the CENTCOM maritime posture, the secretary also ordered the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities," Parnell said, referring to the US military command responsible for the region, AFP reported.

"The United States and its partners remain committed to regional security in the CENTCOM (area of responsibility) and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region," he added.

The Houthis began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the start of the Gaza war in 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.

Houthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal, a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic. Ongoing attacks are forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.

- 'Real pain' -

A day before the carrier announcement, US President Donald Trump vowed that strikes on Yemen's Houthis would continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.

"The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump added that the Houthis had been "decimated" by "relentless" strikes since March 15, saying that US forces "hit them every day and night -- Harder and harder."

On Wednesday, the Houthis accused the United States of killing four people in fresh airstrikes on Hodeidah province.

The US president has also ramped up rhetoric towards Tehran, threatening that "there will be bombing" if Iran does not reach a deal on its nuclear program.

Satellite images seen by AFP showed that Washington had between March 26 and Wednesday doubled the number of B-2 bombers at a US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, from three to six.

The photos from imaging company Planet Labs PBC also showed the presence of six Stratotanker in-flight refuelling aircraft at the Diego Garcia base, within range of Iran.

Trump's threats come as his administration battles a scandal over the accidental leak of a secret group chat by senior security officials on the Yemen strikes.

The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its editor -- a well-known US journalist -- was inadvertently included in a chat on the commercially available Signal app where top officials were discussing the strikes.

The officials, including Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed details of airstrike timings and intelligence -- unaware that the highly sensitive information was being simultaneously read by a member of the media.