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.



Israel Pounds Central Beirut, Suburbs after Major Evacuation Warnings

A damaged building is pictured through the wreckage of a vehicle, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 26, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Yassin
A damaged building is pictured through the wreckage of a vehicle, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 26, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Yassin
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Israel Pounds Central Beirut, Suburbs after Major Evacuation Warnings

A damaged building is pictured through the wreckage of a vehicle, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 26, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Yassin
A damaged building is pictured through the wreckage of a vehicle, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 26, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Yassin

Israel mounted waves of pounding airstrikes in Beirut on Tuesday as its security cabinet discussed a ceasefire deal in Lebanon with its Hezbollah foes that could take effect as soon as Wednesday.

A senior Israeli official and Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib appeared optimistic a deal could be reached, clearing the way for an end to a conflict that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year.

Despite the possibility of an imminent diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged as Israel sharply ramped up its campaign of air strikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, with health authorities reporting at least 18 killed.

Israeli warplanes launched repeated strikes across Beirut throughout Tuesday, mostly in the southern suburbs that are a stronghold for Iran-backed Hezbollah.

A single cluster of strikes in Beirut that Israel's military said included attacks on 20 targets in just 120 seconds killed at least seven people and injured 37, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Israel also gave advance notice for the first time of strikes in the central Beirut area, a significant escalation of its campaign in the capital that sparked panic among residents with some fleeing north.

Strikes also targeted Tyre, in the south, and Baalbek, in the east.

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a "widespread attack" on Hezbollah targets across the city.

Hezbollah has kept up rocket fire into Israel and has previously said it would respond to attacks on central Beirut by firing rockets at Tel Aviv. Sirens sounded in northern Israel and the Israeli military said five projectiles were identified coming from Lebanon.

Hezbollah launched some 250 rockets on Sunday in one of its heaviest barrages yet. The northern Israeli city of Nahariya came under more rocket fire overnight.

‘Dangerous hours’

A Hezbollah parliament member in Lebanon, Hassan Fadlallah, said the country faced "dangerous, sensitive hours" during the wait for a possible ceasefire announcement.

With Israel's security cabinet meeting to discuss the deal, which a senior Israeli official had said was likely to be approved, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he would speak on Tuesday evening at 8 pm (1800 GMT). A government official said the cabinet meeting had started.

Israeli approval of the deal would pave the way for a ceasefire declaration by US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, four senior Lebanese sources told Reuters on Monday.

The ceasefire could come into effect on Wednesday morning, triggering a 60-day truce, a Western diplomat said.

However, there was no indication that a truce in Lebanon would hasten a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in devastated Gaza, where Israel is battling Palestinian group Hamas.

The agreement requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon's army to deploy in the region, officials say. Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.

Bou Habib said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw, and that the United States could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli strikes.

Israel demands effective UN enforcement of an eventual ceasefire with Lebanon and will show "zero tolerance" toward any infraction, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.