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Palestinian authorities have issued a sharp rebuke of Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he published video footage showing himself confronting a long-imprisoned Hamas member inside his cell and declaring that he wanted the man dead.
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, an agency of the Palestinian Authority, condemned the incident in a statement released Monday, describing the conduct captured on camera as evidence that mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners had sunk to unprecedented depths. Raed Abu al-Hummus, who heads the commission, said the footage demonstrated that "degradation and depravity have reached their highest levels," and he characterized the overall conditions inside Israeli detention facilities as "organized terrorism."
The video, which Ben-Gvir shared on social media platform X on Sunday, shows the minister standing inside the cell of Hassan Salama, a Hamas figure who has spent three decades behind Israeli bars. Salama is serving multiple life terms for his involvement in a string of Hamas-directed attacks in 1996, among them bus bombings that killed numerous civilians. Surrounded by Israeli security personnel, Ben-Gvir addresses the prisoner directly, telling him, "I want to kill you," and adding that he wishes to see him executed. The minister indicated the recording was made roughly two weeks before he posted it.
The Palestinian Prisoners Media Office responded by calling the video a "cheap political and electoral stunt," timed to coincide with Israel's upcoming parliamentary elections on October 27. The office further described the episode as a "cowardly act of bullying against a defenceless and handcuffed prisoner" and held Israeli authorities fully accountable for Salama's safety and well-being.
Hamas also weighed in, saying that Ben-Gvir's threat against Salama "signals new crimes" being committed against Palestinian detainees. The group pledged to press ahead with efforts aimed at securing the release of Palestinian prisoners, framing the minister's conduct as part of a broader pattern of abuse.
The episode is not an isolated one for Ben-Gvir, who has built a reputation for provocative gestures toward Palestinian prisoners and incendiary rhetoric more broadly. In August, he posted video of himself walking through the cells of Palestinian women detainees while boasting about the poor conditions in which they were held. The previous year, he was recorded taunting Marwan Barghouti, the long-imprisoned Fatah leader seen by many Palestinians as a potential future president, inside his cell. These incidents have collectively reinforced concerns among human rights advocates that the minister deliberately uses his office to humiliate and intimidate detainees for political gain.
The footage also comes against the backdrop of controversial legislation passed by Israel's Knesset in March, which authorizes the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners in certain circumstances. The law, championed by Ben-Gvir and his Jewish Power party, explicitly does not extend capital punishment to Jewish Israelis, a disparity that drew widespread condemnation and protests from countries across the region. Critics argue the measure institutionalizes discriminatory treatment and creates a legal framework in which threats like the one directed at Salama could be carried out.
In his social media post, Ben-Gvir did not limit himself to threats against individual prisoners; he also renewed his calls for the execution of Palestinian detainees more generally. The combination of the filmed confrontation and the accompanying rhetoric has fueled accusations that he is using prisoners as props in an electoral campaign, seeking to shore up support among his far-right base before voters head to the polls.
Beyond the prison issue, Ben-Gvir used the same day to reiterate his longstanding demand for the "emigration" of Palestinians from both Gaza and the occupied West Bank. In July, he unveiled a seven-year plan he branded "Disengagement 710," which aims to remove Gaza's approximately two million residents through what he describes as "voluntary emigration." He has said that if re-elected, he would create a dedicated migration ministry to facilitate the expulsion of Palestinians — a proposal that critics liken to ethnic cleansing and that has drawn condemnation from European and Arab leaders alike.
The minister has also participated in highly symbolic actions aimed at expanding Israeli presence in Palestinian territories. In July, he joined other Israeli cabinet members and parliamentarians on a march toward Gaza advocating for the rebuilding of Jewish settlements in the besieged enclave. He has additionally promoted plans to annex large portions of the occupied West Bank, moves that would further entrench Israeli control over territory Palestinians envision as part of a future state.
On the ground, Ben-Gvir has used his authority to loosen restrictions on Israeli civilians carrying firearms, approving gun licences for residents of 18 additional settlements in the occupied West Bank this year alone. These settlements are considered illegal under international law, and the arming of their residents has raised fears of escalating violence against nearby Palestinian communities.
The repeated confrontations between Ben-Gvir and Palestinian prisoners underscore a wider deterioration in detention conditions that Palestinian officials and rights groups have documented for years. Allegations of overcrowding, medical neglect, and psychological abuse are commonplace, and the publication of footage in which a senior Israeli minister personally threatens a handcuffed inmate has intensified calls for international scrutiny of Israel's prison system.
For Palestinians, the video is likely to deepen a sense of impunity surrounding the treatment of detainees and to sharpen opposition to Ben-Gvir's political ambitions ahead of the October vote. For Israeli authorities, the incident raises uncomfortable questions about accountability at the highest levels of government, particularly given that the man making the threats holds direct responsibility for the prison service. Whether the episode carries electoral consequences or passes without formal censure remains to be seen, but it has already added a volatile new chapter to the long-running dispute over the fate of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
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