Ben-Gvir claims 100 doctors volunteered to execute Palestinian prisoners despite ethics ban

Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says he has received "a hundred calls" from doctors willing to carry out death sentences on Palestinian prisoners in defiance of the Israeli doctors’ union’s ethical ban.  

Addressing members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) on Monday, Ben-Gvir claimed that since doctors were barred from taking part in any executions ordered by the regime, he had “received a hundred calls from doctors saying, ‘Itamar, just tell me when.’”

He made the remarks during a hearing on a bill that seeks to legitimize the execution of Palestinian prisoners who have long faced torture and death in Israeli prisons. 

During the hearing, Ben-Gvir was wearing a yellow noose-shaped pin alongside other members of his Jewish Power Party (Otzma Yehudit).

The hawkish minister said the noose symbolized “one of the options by which the law will enforce a death penalty for terrorists.” He added that “of course, there is the option of the gallows, the electric chair, and there is also the option of lethal injection.”

The Knesset passed the first reading of the legislation in early November, with 39 votes in favor and 16 against in the 120-seat chamber. The bill requires two more readings before becoming law.

The Israeli Medical Association said at the time that its doctors are not allowed to administer death penalties ordered by the regime, as that would force them to go back on their oath as doctors. 

“Our knowledge must not be used for purposes that do not promote health and welfare,” a representative of the group said.

Israel’s Knesset approves death penalty draft bill for Palestinian abductees

The Israeli Knesset has approved the first reading of a bill that allows the regime to pass the death penalty for Palestinian abductees.

The draft bill, introduced by Ben-Gvir’s party, has been widely condemned by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and human rights organizations.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) condemned the vote, with Palestinian National Council Speaker Rawhi Fattouh calling the draft legislation “a political, legal, and humanitarian crime.”

The PA foreign ministry also described it as “a new form of escalating Israeli extremism and criminality against the Palestinian people.”

Palestinian human rights groups warn that the bill’s “most alarming aspect” is the possibility that it could be applied retroactively, paving the way for “collective death sentences” targeting hundreds of Palestinians currently held in Israeli detention centers.

Ben-Gvir has long pushed for a death penalty law, arguing that it would deter operations similar to Hamas' Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Thousands of Palestinians, including children, are arbitrarily being held in Israel’s prisons and detention sites, where torture is widespread. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has documented testimonies from 100 former prisoners held between October 2023 and 2024, concluding that torture was systematic across all Israeli prison facilities.

A newly released report says that at least 110 Palestinians died in Israeli custody between January 2023 and June 2025, most of them in hospitals after being transferred from detention facilities.

According to the report by the Israeli outlet Walla, evidence of torture and abuse has sharply increased since Ben-Gvir assumed control of the prison system in 2023.

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