By Nadda

 

ISRAELI OCCUPIED GAZA AND WEST BANK, 21 August. - (ANA) - Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has shared footage showing the construction of hanging facilities and viewing booths intended for the execution of Palestinian prisoners, as a leading rights group warned The New Arab that work was already under way despite a pending Supreme Court challenge to Israel's controversial new death penalty law.

 

Adalah told The New Arab that the facilities were being constructed even as it challenges the law before Israel's Supreme Court, with a hearing scheduled for January 2027.

 

"It represents the grotesque culmination of a deliberate policy designed to turn an existing reality of systemic torture and lethal detention, where the lives of Palestinian prisoners are already under constant threat through severe abuse, starvation, and medical neglect, into a codified, legalized instrument of state execution," the group's spokesperson said.

 

"Minister Ben-Gvir's announcement makes even more explicit the clear intention of turning executions into public spectacles of political vengeance. Adalah is continuing to challenge this law in a pending petition before the Supreme Court, arguing that it violates the absolute right to life under international law," the spokesperson continued.

 

Photographs of the facility shared by Israeli media show a bulldozer, an area cordoned off near a prison and heavy construction work under way.

 

Footage posted on Tuesday by Ben-Gvir showed him standing near wooden and metal structures forming the foundations of the facility.

 

“I promised to worsen the conditions of [detainees] in prisons – we kept it,” he said. “I promised to pass the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law – we did. And now the death row and hanging facility are also starting to take shape.”

 

“We are making history. Our [detainees] deserve only one thing – death by hanging,” he continued.

 

The remarks refer to legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in March introducing the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

 

The law instructs military courts to impose capital punishment on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis, but does not apply on the same terms to Jewish Israelis convicted of killing Palestinians, prompting rights groups to condemn it as discriminatory.

 

The new facility is part of a so-called death-row wing inside an Israeli prison, although it has not been made immediately clear which prison will house it.

 

Israeli Knesset member Ofer Cassif also condemned the move in comments to The New Arab.

 

“This criminal thug - a sympathizer of murderers of Palestinians, a supporter of terror, and a pathological racist - is also hopelessly infantile. Soon we will oust him from the government, and next, throw him behind bars,” he said.

 

Ben-Gvir’s office announced that observation booths were also being constructed to allow relatives of those killed to watch the hangings, “as is customary in many countries”.

 

Israeli media reported that visitor permits would also be made available to members of “bereaved families”, raising concerns among rights activists that Israel is preparing to turn the executions of Palestinians into a spectacle.

 

The death penalty law has faced widespread condemnation since it passed the Knesset by 62 votes to 48. Under the law, executions can be carried out within 90 days of a final judgment.

 

Critics have also pointed to the extraordinarily high conviction rate of Israeli military courts trying Palestinians, which exceeds 95%, as well as longstanding concerns over the fairness of trials.

 

Palestinian prisoners and rights organisations have repeatedly documented allegations of torture, abuse and medical neglect inside Israeli detention facilities.

 

 

 

 

The construction comes as Ben-Gvir faces mounting criticism over genocidal and dehumanising comments in a podcast with a former Israeli captive this week, in which he called for the killing of 30 to 40 Palestinians each night in Gaza.

 

European Commission spokesperson Anita Heber called on Israel to abide by international law following the remarks.

 

“The EU expects Israel to uphold all its obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, and the protection of civilians must be guaranteed at all times,” Heber said.

 

Germany’s Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil also said Ben-Gvir’s remarks were “statements that we, as the German government, cannot accept it any way”. Klingbeil added that sanctions must now be “very seriously” considered.

 

Both the UK and Egypt criticised Ben-Gvir’s remarks following a meeting between Britain’s Minister of State for the Middle East, Stephen Doughty, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Aty.

 

“The two ministers condemned the recent statements by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, which included calls for the daily killing of dozens of Palestinians from the Strip and the construction of Israeli settlements,” Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement. -(ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/21 August 2026 - - -