Updated
Updated · Middle East Eye · Aug 18
Ben Gvir Backs Ex-Captive's Bid to Execute Palestinian Prisoners as 104 Have Died in Custody
Updated
Updated · Middle East Eye · Aug 18

Ben Gvir Backs Ex-Captive's Bid to Execute Palestinian Prisoners as 104 Have Died in Custody

3 articles · Updated · Middle East Eye · Aug 18

Summary

  • Rom Braslavski, an ex-Israeli soldier freed from Gaza in October 2025, asked National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to let him personally execute Palestinian prisoners in a podcast interview; Ben Gvir said he would try to make it happen.
  • Ben Gvir, whose ministry oversees Israel's Prison Service, said Palestinian inmates "don't deserve to live" and praised their suffering, extending the interview's hardline rhetoric from prisons to Gaza.
  • 30 to 40 Palestinians should be killed nightly in Gaza, Ben Gvir said, while again calling for expulsions and new Israeli settlements across the enclave despite reported US pressure to curb attacks.
  • 104 Palestinian inmates have died in Israeli custody since 2023, rights groups say more than 9,000 Palestinians are detained, and Ben Gvir has already pushed measures including a death-penalty bill and a prison-moat crocodile plan blocked this month.

Insights

How will global courts react to an Israeli minister openly promising to let a former captive personally execute prisoners?
What hidden motives drive officials to demand mass executions and new settlements despite the active 2025 Gaza ceasefire?
Can international law intervene when a security minister publicly plans execution facilities with viewing chambers for victims' families?