A released hostage told Yediot Ahronot that fellow hostages were beaten by their captors whenever Hamas saw National Security Minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir on television or when Israeli measures concerning prisoners were mentioned.
In an interview published this morning, released hostage Segev Kalfon stated: “Every time they saw Ben‑Gvir on television, or there were events related to their prisoners in the Israeli prison, they would give us a beating.” He described initial hope at seeing light, believing it signaled rescue, only to realize “After Ben‑Gvir spoke about what he had done to their prisoners here in Israel, the light became a sign of evil coming to us. We knew that we were going to get beaten, we were afraid, we clung to the walls and prepared ourselves.”
Minister Ben‑Gvir reacted forcefully to the account, arguing that changes he introduced to incarceration conditions were intended to strengthen Israeli deterrence. “There is a basic thing in Israeli deterrence that our defeatist media refuses to grasp,” he said. “The changes I made in the conditions of incarceration of the terrorists were not only intended to stop the terrorists already in prison from receiving a reward for murdering Jews, but also to let potential terrorists know that if you go out to murder Jews, you can’t expect a country club afterwards.”
Ben‑Gvir also dismissed suggestions that his statements caused harm to hostages, saying such claims ignore Hamas’s responsibility for violence. “The media on the other hand really thinks that Hamas harmed the hostages because of some statement or other of mine; as if hostages did not testify that when the air force bombed the Gaza Strip Hamas harmed them, and as if the 7.10 massacre and the abductions themselves Hamas committed because of some statement of a politician, and not because of its lust to murder Jews and destroy the State of Israel,” he said.
“Despite the defeatism and advocacy for Hamas terrorists, and the attempts to undermine our deterrence – I will continue to act to strengthen our deterrence. The conditions of the terrorists in prison will continue to be the bare minimum according to law. The days of the summer camps are over. Let every terrorist who thinks of harming Jews know that if he reaches the Israeli prison, he is not going to enjoy it. I hope very much that we will soon move up a level, and pass the death penalty for terrorists as a law. Until then – terrorists will continue to rot in prison exactly in the conditions that are appropriate for them.”