Israel’s Ben-Gvir lauds harsh conditions for Palestinian female prisoners

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkIsrael's Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the site of a rocket attack on March 1, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israe[Erik Marmor/Getty Images]By Al Jazeera Staff and AnadoluPublished On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has posted footage from a prison holding Palestinian women on social media, boasting that he is responsible for the harsh conditions imposed on them.The video, posted on Ben-Gvir’s X account on Sunday, shows him entering a section holding female prisoners and confronting them about their complaints regarding detention conditions.One prisoner tells him: “This is our third day without showering. We are not receiving medical treatment, and our clothes are not clean.”Ben-Gvir responds: “The good conditions in the prisons are over. This is the current situation, and I am directly responsible for everything. I am pleased with these conditions.”In a post accompanying the video, the far-right minister wrote that the “whining” of prisoners over their conditions would not influence him, arguing that Israeli captives held in Gaza had not enjoyed adequate conditions.“I’ll continue to lead a policy of the bare minimum of the minimum,” he said.Palestinian groups condemn footageGaza’s Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit, saying the filming of female prisoners amounted to intimidation and humiliation.It said his entry into the women’s section of the facility was “not an inspection visit”, but rather a “political spectacle and public incitement against the female prisoners” aimed at intimidating them and breaking their will in front of cameras.The Palestinian agency said Ben-Gvir’s remarks showed that conditions inside Israeli prisons were part of what it described as a systematic policy of retaliation based on “humiliation, torture, starvation and deprivation”.An Israeli police officer outside Ofer military prison near Jerusalem, October 13, 2025 [Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society also condemned the footage, telling Al Jazeera that Ben-Gvir’s filming and publication of the women constituted “an assault on their human dignity”.It said hundreds of testimonies from released detainees and prisoners had documented serious abuses inside Israeli prisons and detention facilities.Push for harsher conditionsSince becoming national security minister in late 2022, Ben-Gvir has pushed for tougher conditions for Palestinian prisoners, including reducing food and water supplies, restricting family visits, limiting shower times and removing privileges inside prison sections.He has also overseen the transfer of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners between facilities.Ben-Gvir has previously rejected efforts to improve conditions for prisoners. In 2025, he publicly opposed an Israeli court ruling requiring authorities to ensure Palestinian prisoners received adequate food, insisting that harsh conditions should continue.According to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, about 9,400 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, including 88 women and more than 350 children.