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Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Sunday that he is “pleased” with the harsh treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, adding that he is directly responsible for prison conditions.
His remarks came in a video released on X in which he was seen speaking to Palestinian female prisoners.
“The conditions here are very bad, and we women are not afforded any special rights, such as access to personal necessities,” a Palestinian prisoner said in the video.
“This is our third day without showers. We are not receiving medical treatment, and our clothes are not clean,” she added.
“The good conditions that used to exist in the prisons are over,” Ben-Gvir responded through an interpreter.
“The ‘whining’ of the terrorists about the conditions in the prisons doesn't work on me,” he wrote in a post accompanying the video.
When the female prisoner asked for prison conditions to be improved, Ben-Gvir rejected the request.
This is not the first time Ben-Gvir has entered the cells of Palestinian detainees to mock them.
Earlier in August, he mocked a female prisoner who complained about poor detention conditions and the lack of basic necessities, telling her that “prison is not a hotel.”
Since taking office in late 2022, Ben-Gvir has moved to tighten detention conditions for Palestinian prisoners.
The measures have included policies of starvation and medical neglect, as well as torture and solitary confinement, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights reports.
Around 9,500 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli jails, including 94 women and over 350 children, according to the reports.
The reports say prisoners suffer from starvation, torture and medical neglect.
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