Israel's national security minister shows video of future execution facility for prisoners

Israel's national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir has posted a video showing construction work at what he described as a future execution facility for prisoners. In the video, he said the site will include gallows for carrying out death sentences in Israel. The move adds a new public dimension to a long-running campaign by the far-right minister to expand capital punishment for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks.

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The row is linked to legislation approved in March by Israel's parliament at Ben Gvir's initiative. According to the supporting material, the law provides for the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, and the sentence has now become the default in military court proceedings for cases classified as acts of terrorism. The bill passed by 62 votes to 48, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voting in favour.

The proposal has already drawn criticism from human rights groups in Israel and in European countries, which condemned it after the vote. An Israeli group also said it had filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Israel. That legal challenge suggests the issue is likely to remain contested both in the courts and in public debate.

The latest video appears designed to keep pressure on the government to move the policy from legislation to implementation. The development matters because it touches on one of the most sensitive areas of Israel's security and legal system: how the state responds to attacks it classifies as terrorism. Ben Gvir has made support for capital punishment a central part of his political profile, particularly in relation to Palestinians held in Israeli custody.

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His public promotion of an execution site is likely to intensify scrutiny of the government's approach to punishment, deterrence and the treatment of detainees. Ben Gvir has served in Netanyahu's government since December, according to the supplied material, and has used his position to push a hard-line penal agenda. The March vote showed that the proposal had backing inside the governing camp, but it also exposed deep opposition from rights advocates and legal critics.

The issue sits at the intersection of domestic politics, military justice and Israel's wider conflict with Palestinians, making it politically charged well beyond the prison system itself. What remains unclear from the available material is when, or whether, the facility shown in the video will be completed and used. It is also not clear how the Supreme Court will respond to the petition, or whether the government will face further legal or diplomatic pressure over the policy.

For now, the video signals that the debate over capital punishment in Israel is moving from parliamentary approval toward possible practical preparation.

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