News

Ben Gvir blocks state inspectors from entering Israel’s notorious torture centers

May 29, 2026

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir – who runs Israel’s Prison Service – is refusing to allow state inspectors from entering jails and detention facilities, according to a 27 May report by Haaretz newspaper.

“Ben Gvir has been preventing state inspectors from entering Israeli prisons by delaying approval of their official authorization for more than six months,” the Hebrew outlet reported.

A list of inspectors appointed by the Israeli Justice Ministry and Public Defender’s Office to inspect jails was handed over to the national security minister in December last year.

According to the report, Ben Gvir has not approved the list and is actively disregarding inquiries on the issue.

“Ben Gvir has also refused to approve the entry of Israel Bar Association representatives, whose names are on a separate list, for the past three years,” the report added.

Israeli Prison Service laws require Ben Gvir to approve the appointment of inspectors who would be tasked with examining the conditions of prisoners and how the facilities are run.

“Ben Gvir is using his authority to exert pressure on the identity of people who will be allowed to visit detention facilities,” a police source told Haaretz.

Torture, medical neglect, starvation, and sexual assault against Palestinian prisoners have existed in Israeli jails for decades.

Since Benjamin Netanyahu’s government came to power and Ben Gvir assumed control of the prison system, these conditions have worsened significantly.

Ben Gvir is “very proud of what is happening in prisons,” the minister’s office said in a statement to Haaretz.

Over 23,000 Palestinians are being held across Israeli prisons.

Palestinian prisoners are subject to torture, rape, humiliation, beatings, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, and many other forms of mistreatment.

Israeli authorities have recently approved a law to execute Palestinians detained for resisting occupation.

Ben Gvir himself regularly visits the prisons and taunts Palestinian detainees personally. Among the most notorious of these facilities is Sde Teiman.

In 2024, a Palestinian detainee was brutally raped by five soldiers at the facility. The soldiers were only briefly arrested and had the charges against them dropped earlier this year.

Back in January, Israeli rights group B’Tselem released a report titled Living Hell, documenting the systemic torture across Israeli prison facilities holding Palestinian detainees.

Based on testimony from released prisoners, the report detailed widespread abuse carried out by prison guards, soldiers, and Shin Bet personnel, including rape, forced anal penetration with objects, beatings to the genitals, starvation, electric shocks, and denial of medical care.

After international activists on the Global Sumud Flotilla were detained by Israel for attempting to break the siege of Gaza, Ben Gvir organized a “welcome party” during which the activists were abused, held in a stress position for hours, and forced to listen to Israel’s national anthem.