Hamas is filming the torture of Israeli hostages in an attempt to force Israel to ease conditions for Palestinian prisoners.
In one video, members of the terrorist group directly address Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister who controls prison policy, two Israeli officials told The Telegraph.
The video shows hostages being tortured while Hamas warn that harsher conditions for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel are affecting the well-being of hostages in Gaza.
In May, CNN reported that Palestinians arrested in Gaza were facing brutal conditions at the Sde Teiman desert camp in the Negev desert, some of whom were blindfolded and beaten.
A New York Times investigation also found that some 1,200 Palestinian civilians had been held at the Sde Teiman camp “without the ability to plead their cases to a judge for up to 75 days.”
Mr Ben-Gvir has made it a priority to worsen conditions for Palestinian prisoners since taking office in December 2022, causing him to clash repeatedly with the Shin Bet intelligence agency who feared it would ignite another violent conflict with Hamas.
The video is understood to have intensified the rift, with Mr Ben-Gvir said to have doubled down after viewing it.
Mr Ben-Gvir, who leads the hard-Right Jewish Power party, has been a source of friction between Israel and its closest allies due to his extreme views on the Palestinians, as well as his opposition to a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would free the hostages.
In August last year, He said the prisons had begun reducing as much as possible the “indulgences for Hamas terrorists and stopping ‘summer camp’ that was going on in the prison wings in the past.”
He also ordered the prisons to forbid inmates from making their own pita bread while limiting hot showers to three wings in one prison.
Since October 7, Israel has arrested and killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, most of whom Israeli authorities say are members of terror organisations.
One senior Israeli official who showed the video to Mr Ben-Gvir said he responded by claiming that it only gives Israel legitimacy to crack down further on Palestinian prisoners.
“Even after being warned that because of his desire for likes on social media, our hostages are suffering in Gaza and being tortured, he smiled and said he would continue,” a senior Israeli official said.
Mr Ben-Gvir told The Telegraph he was “not aware” of the allegations.
The Israeli government announced last month that it would begin reducing the number of inmates held at the camp.
The decision to phase out the camp was harshly criticised by Mr Ben-Gvir, who repeated his hard-line vis-a-vis prisoners. He said: “Why are they closing Sde Teiman? Because they are overcrowded? Prisons are overcrowded, and it is good that they are.”
