Palestinians outraged as Israel's Ben-Gvir storms Marwan Barghouti's prison cell

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry and the wife of imprisoned leader Marwan Barghouti have condemned what they called a provocative and dangerous raid by extremist Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Barghouti’s prison cell.

On Thursday, Israel’s National Security Minister stormed Barghouti’s cell at the Ramon Prison, telling him that Israel will win the war in Gaza.

"Whoever messes with the people of Israel, whoever murders our children, whoever murders our women, we will obliterate them. You will not defeat us," Ben-Gvir told the iconic Palestinian figure who has been imprisoned for over two decades.

"You will come to learn this throughout history."

A short clip showing the incident has been shared online.

The extremist minister is known for his inflammatory statements about Palestinians and frequent provocations against them.

Barghouti, a former leader of Fatah’s armed Tanzim faction, was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to five life sentences over attacks carried out by the group against Israel. He has always maintained that his trial was illegitimate.

Ben-Gvir's provocative visit comes amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which killed more than 61,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, including hundreds who have starved to death.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Thursday evening that Ben-Gvir’s actions are "an unprecedented provocation", calling it "organised state terrorism, part of the [Israeli] crimes of genocide, displacement, and annexation to which prisoners and our people are subjected."

The ministry held "the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for the lives of prisoner Marwan Barghouti and all prisoners," adding that it will seriously follow up on Ben-Gvir’s threat with the International Red Cross and the international community.

It called for urgent and genuine international intervention to protect Palestinian prisoners "from the brutality of the [Israeli] occupation and secure their immediate release."

Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh described Ben-Gvir's threats against Barghouti as "the height of psychological, moral, and physical terrorism."

"This constitutes an unprecedented lapse in the occupation's policy against Palestinian prisoners, requiring immediate intervention by international organisations and institutions to protect them," Sheikh wrote on X.

Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa, wrote a heartfelt message for her husband, who appeared elderly and gaunt in the video after spending over 23 years in Israeli custody.

He has been the target of ill-treatment and abuse in prison.

"It's true that I didn't know you or recognise your features, and maybe a part of me doesn't want to acknowledge everything your face and body express, and what you and the prisoners have been through.

"Marwan, they are still chasing you and pursuing you, even in the solitary confinement cell where you've been for two years. The struggle of the occupation and its symbols with you continues, and the shackles are on your hands," Fadwa wrote in a post on her Facebook page.

"But I know your spirit and your determination, and I know that you will remain free, free, and free. You only care about your people and ending their suffering, which has reached the heavens in Gaza, and achieving their freedom and preserving their dignity.

"I know that nothing shakes you except what you hear about the pain of your people, and nothing crushes you and pains you except the lack of protection for our sons and daughters.

"You are one of the people, and wherever you are among the people, from them and among them, your fate is linked to their fate. That's how you were and that's how you will remain," she concludes, sharing an older image of Barghouti and a screengrab from the video where he appears in front of Ben-Gvir.

Despite his imprisonment, Barghouti has maintained an active role in Palestinian politics and has become a national icon for Palestinians. He is consistently the frontrunner to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to polls.

According to previous data published by the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, the number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel reached 10,800 as of early August, including 49 female prisoners, 450 children, and 2,378 detainees classified as "unlawful combatants."

The NGO clarified that the total number does not include those detained in Israeli military camps, including prisoners from Lebanon and Syria where Israel has also waged wars.