National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced this week the start of construction on a dedicated execution facility for Palestinians sentenced to death under Israel’s new death penalty law, days after his comments calling for Israel to kill “30 to 40” Gazans nightly drew condemnation from Germany and Italy.
Ben-Gvir visited the construction site on Tuesday and posted a video of the facility, which is currently under construction at an undisclosed location in central Israel. “We promised, and we are keeping our promises,” Ben-Gvir said. “I promised to worsen the conditions of terrorists in prisons, we kept it. 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.”
The facility will include a dedicated wing for prisoners sentenced to death, with gallows at its center, and observation booths allowing victims and their families to witness executions. Ben-Gvir said the arrangement is “customary in many countries,” citing the United States as an example, and that visitor permits would be granted to bereaved families.
The law underlying the facility passed the Knesset on March 30 by a vote of 62-48, sponsored by an Otzma Yehudit lawmaker whose husband was killed in a terrorist attack. It imposes the death penalty by default on Palestinians in the West Bank convicted by military courts of carrying out lethal terrorist attacks, with executions required within 90 days of sentencing. The law does not apply by default to Israeli citizens, including settlers, who are tried in civilian courts. IDF Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth added the law to West Bank security regulations in May. In June, Ben-Gvir appointed six bereaved family members from the Choosing Life Forum as official inspectors under the law, granting them supervisory powers over its implementation.
Several Israeli-Arab lawmakers have joined a petition filed with Israel’s High Court of Justice in April challenging the law’s constitutionality, arguing it violates the rights to life, dignity, equality, and due process, and discriminates against Palestinians by applying specifically in West Bank military courts.
The facility announcement followed remarks Ben-Gvir made on former hostage Rom Braslavski’s “October 8” podcast, published Saturday, in which he argued Israel should not limit strikes in Gaza to those who “pose an immediate threat.” Ben-Gvir said “there are people there who aren’t worthy of life,” and that Gazans some might consider uninvolved should not be exempt from being targeted. Referring to a woman who had brought Braslavski food during his captivity, Ben-Gvir said she “needs a bullet in the head.” He also called for renewed Israeli settlement “throughout the Gaza Strip,” beyond the former Gush Katif settlements, alongside encouraging Palestinian emigration from Gaza, while saying that for terrorists, “no emigration, nothing, just to kill them one by one.” Braslavski, in the same interview, said he wanted to personally execute captured terrorists under the death penalty law, telling Ben-Gvir, “I don’t want a rope, and I don’t need a button. With my own hands, I will execute every terrorist here.” Ben-Gvir responded that making that happen is “one of my greatest dreams.”
The remarks drew swift condemnation from European officials this week. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz “strongly condemns the inhumane remarks made by Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir,” a German government spokesperson said Wednesday. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani condemned Ben-Gvir’s push for the death penalty in a post on X, writing, “No one can arrogate to themselves the right to take someone’s life,” and added that Italy would continue condemning settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Ben-Gvir has held the national security portfolio since joining the government in 2022. With Israeli national elections scheduled for October 27, Ben-Gvir has increasingly framed both the execution facility and his broader prison and security policies as the fulfillment of campaign promises to his base.
