Ex-hostage says Ben Gvir’s comments on prisoners led captors to beat them unconscious

A recently released hostage has reportedly told his family that he and others he was held with in Gaza were beaten with horse whips until they lost consciousness after their Hamas captors had heard public comments made by far National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has publicly boasted about worsening the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

“We were subjected to severe abuse every time Ben Gvir spoke out about the [Palestinian] prisoners,” Channel 12 quoted an unnamed former hostage as having said on Friday.

“Once he talked about [the limited] food [Palestinians prisoners were receiving], and they locked us in a cage and said we could eat one date and drink salt water,” the freed hostage added.

“Once after he spoke on television, some terrorists came in with horse whips and beat us until some of us lost consciousness,” the former hostage recalled.

Monday saw the release of the remaining 20 living hostages held in Gaza in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, as part of the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s wider peace plan.

Earlier this year, released hostages also said that Ben Gvir’s behavior led to a worsening of the conditions in which they were held.

Captivity survivor Eli Sharabi said in March that his captors followed the news avidly, and he cautioned that the remarks made by leaders in the media have “lots and lots of power,” while Eliya Cohen specifically singled out the public remarks made by Ben Gvir.

The National Security Minister refused at the time to apologize to the hostages. Instead, he defended his conduct and said he was “proud of it.”

Einav Zangauker, the mother of then-hostage Matan Zangauker, claimed at a March rally in Tel Aviv that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was aware of the consequences of Ben Gvir’s statements but chose to do nothing.

“[Senior officials] told me that Netanyahu knew about all the torture the hostages are subjected to,” she said. “He knew the meaning of Ben Gvir’s statements — how because of him, [Hamas] tortured hostages. But [Netanyahu] shut up and normalized [it] and let [Ben Gvir] continue abusing the hostages.”

Channel 12 noted in its Friday report that defense officials warned Ben Gvir on a number of occasions that his words and actions to worsen the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails could lead to the further mistreatment of those held in Gaza.

In spite of this, his behavior has not changed. On Wednesday, Palestinian media outlets reported that prominent Palestinian terror convict Marwan Barghouti suffered four broken ribs after being beaten by Israeli prison guards last month.

Ben Gvir denied the allegations, but in the same breath said he was “proud that Barghouti’s conditions have changed drastically” during his tenure.

In August, the minister visited the cell of Barghouti and appeared to taunt him in footage published on social media that drew outrage from the Palestinian Authority.

Throughout his nearly two-year tenure as national security minister, Ben Gvir repeatedly railed against what he described as luxury items provided to security prisoners, moving to ban fresh pita being served behind bars as well as to limit shower times for inmates. In the wake of the October 7 attack, the minister ordered new restrictions on security prisoners, including overcrowding and removal of beds.

Ben Gvir often cites his prison policies as one of his main achievements as minister, although his two years in office saw a significant rise in terror attacks, according to Shin Bet statistics.