A Palestinian rights organisation warned on Thursday that Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was continuing to incite and enforce a "systematic policy of genocide" inside Israeli prisons.
The NGO said Ben-Gvir, who is of Kurdish Iraqi origin and has a long record of racist incitement, has repeatedly called for the killing and torture of Palestinian detainees. It said he has used social media to glorify abuse after a recent video this week showed him boasting about the mistreatment of prisoners.
In its statement, the organisation warned that Ben-Gvir's remarks coincide with "dangerous legislative moves" in the Knesset aimed at reintroducing the death penalty, specifically targeting Palestinian prisoners in a move that would mark Israel's first use of capital punishment since its near-total abolition.
"These legal measures, which have already passed preliminary approvals, mark a dangerous shift toward legitimising crimes against prisoners and turning executions into state-sanctioned practices," the group said.
Testimonies from recently released prisoners, whether freed after serving sentences or under the latest exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, reveal "unprecedented levels of brutality and crimes committed during arrest and detention, especially since the beginning of the genocidal war", the NGO said.
It added that the accounts of freed detainees, as well as the condition of bodies recently returned to families in Gaza, provide clear evidence of systematic field executions and torture.
The organisation called for an urgent, independent international investigation based on the mounting evidence and testimonies.
According to Israeli media and social media footage, Ben-Gvir personally visited a prison holding prominent Palestinian detainees earlier this week, where he boasted about prisoners being forced to remain kneeling on the floor.
The visit, livestreamed on his social media platforms, included renewed calls for the execution of Palestinian detainees as part of his campaign to project a hardline image while worsening the suffering of prisoners.
Ben-Gvir has previously taunted Palestinian detainees, including senior political figure Marwan Barghouti. Following his recent visit, Barghouti's son accused Israeli prison authorities of orchestrating attempts to kill his father through physical assaults and deliberate medical neglect, allegedly in retaliation for his political stance and influence.
The prisoners' association and other rights groups said conditions in Israeli prisons are an extension of the broader genocide being carried out against Palestinians. Official data showing at least 75 deaths in custody "represents only a fraction of the real toll", the group said, citing widespread reports of torture, starvation, denial of medical treatment, humiliation, and sexual violence, including rape.
The organisation urged the international community to establish an independent commission of inquiry into crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners, including deliberate killings and field executions and acts of genocide.
It also called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to resume prison visits immediately and to pressure Israel to allow families to visit detainees without restrictions.
Despite the recent prisoner exchange, more than 9,100 Palestinians remain in Israeli custody, in addition to hundreds held in army-run detention camps, according to the group.
Ben-Gvir, who was banned from entering the West Bank in the late 1990s and early 2000s for his involvement with Kach, a Jewish terrorist organisation outlawed in both Israel and the United States, was convicted in 2007 for supporting the group and inciting racism.
He openly espouses the Jewish extremist Kahanist ideology, which advocates the expulsion of Palestinians and promotes anti-Arab supremacy, and has publicly praised Baruch Goldstein, the settler who massacred 29 Palestinians in Hebron in 1994.
Human rights organisations describe Ben-Gvir as an extremist whose rhetoric and policies institutionalise racism, hatred, and the systematic repression of Palestinians.
Reports from UN bodies and rights groups have long documented the torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees, abuses that have intensified under Ben-Gvir's tenure.
Prisoners describe severe beatings, stress positions, waterboarding, starvation, and denial of medical care, alongside sexual violence, including cases of rape and gang rape by Israeli guards.
Bodies returned from custody show evidence of broken bones, burns, blindfolds, and execution-style wounds.