'De facto' death penalty: 110 Palestinian prisoners killed in Israeli custody

BarcelonaA few days ago, Israel's Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir, appeared in Parliament wearing a gold gallows pin on his lapel. He was appearing before the committee debating his proposed law to implement the death penalty for Palestinians. The law, which still needs to pass two votes in the Knesset, It proposes condemning to death Palestinians who kill an Israeli for a "nationalist" motivation.And it does not contemplate the same punishment if an Israeli kills a Palestinian under the same circumstances. Ben-Gvir clarified in the session that hanging "is only one of the options," among others such as "the electric chair or lethal injection."

The death penalty is already legal in Israel, but so far it has only been applied once: in 1962, against Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust. Most opposition parties and Israeli human rights groups oppose this law, but with the support of Netanyahu's party and the other government partners, it could pass.

However, Ben-Gvir is not willing to wait for the parliamentary process and is applying the death penalty in the prisons, which are under his direct responsibility, through his actions. On the very day that he and his deputies were displaying the controversial pine trees, the Israeli news agency Walla! published a report stating that 110 Palestinian prisoners had died in Israeli custody between January 23, 2023, and June 25 of this year. "This morning I read that 110 terrorists have died under Itamar Ben-Gvir. And they say this has never happened since the founding of the State [of Israel]," the minister himself boasted during the session. This figure is even higher than the 86 deaths reported by Palestinian prisoner support organizations.

Israeli and international human rights organizations have been documenting the mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners for decades, and abuses have skyrocketed since October 7, 2023. Even the Israeli Public Defender's office documented severe hunger and starvation in the overcrowded cells of Israeli prisons in a recent report. Ben-Gvir himself has posted videos on social media of himself humiliating prisoners, who showed visible signs of torture.

"The dog bit my shoulder"

Omar, a young man from the Palestinian city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, recounted to ARA his experience of spending eight months imprisoned last year in Israel's Gilboa prison. "The guards are constantly entering the cells, often at night, with dogs, and they beat people. I was bitten on the shoulder by a dog. They leave you so disfigured that your friends don't even recognize you."

The 22-year-old explained that there were eight prisoners in a cell meant for four and that they were only allowed out into the yard for one hour a day. He also denounced the lack of hygiene, showing the scabies lesions on his legs. "I spent the entire time in prison wearing the clothes I had on the day I was arrested, and we only had one bar of soap for everyone and barely any water." Omar was arrested in the summer while working as a producer for a local television station and covering a military incursion.

Hunger is also experienced in Israeli prisons: Omar explains that they had only one meal a day and that the bread they had to share among the eight cellmates was soaked in water to make it swell and more filling. When he was imprisoned, he weighed almost 100 kilos and was released weighing 65. "There are no mirrors in prison, and when I saw myself for the first time, in the hospital where they took me, I couldn't believe it was me."

The latest report from the UN Committee against Tortureconcludes that Israel imposes a "state policy" de facto of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment that has intensified since October 7, 2023."

There are currently 9,250 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, although the real number is probably higher, because the army and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu do not act in Gaza. The Israeli news agency Walla reports 10,000 detainees, despite the latest exchange mediated by Donald Trump that resulted in the release of some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the last Israeli hostages held in Gaza. "Administrative detention," without charges or a judicial process, is a figure in the Israeli legal system that applies only to Palestinians and can be extended indefinitely.