National Security Minister Ben Gvir shows construction of hanging facility for convicted terrorists

Israel is constructing an execution facility for hanging convicted terrorists within a death row prisoner wing, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced Tuesday. 

Construction began in recent weeks in a prison facility with a dedicated wing for death row inmates in the center of the country. 

The hanging facility is where death sentences will be carried out in accordance with the death penalty law approved by the Knesset earlier this year. 

In a video recorded at the site, Ben Gvir said the construction of the facility was proof that he was keeping his campaign promises. 

״After I took office, I promised to stop the summer camps in the prison service, and this was fully implemented,” he stated, referring to the lenient treatment of prisoners charged with terror crimes. 

“I promised to enact the death penalty for terrorists. It was implemented. I promised to establish a facility. It is being implemented,” Ben Gvir said in the video, pointing to the facility behind him. “And today, when there are attacks, the terrorists are killed on the ground, and it is very good that this is the case. But if the terrorist and until today, from the beginning of the law, we have not had anything like this, if the terrorist gets out alive, he comes here.” 

לאחר שהשר לביטחון לאומי איתמר בן גביר ומפלגת עוצמה יהודית הובילו להעברת חוק עונש מוות למחבלים, בשבועות האחרונים הולך ונבנה במרכז הארץ אגף ייעודי לנידונים למוות, שבמרכזו מתוכנן לקום מתקן תלייה שבו יבוצעו גזרי הדין בהתאם להוראות החוק. pic.twitter.com/Rrix6IjTDI

— אלעזר כרפס (@KrpsL52952) August 18, 2026

Minister Ben Gvir said that the facility will include viewing rooms, “like in the United States,” where family members of the victims will be able to watch the execution. 

The Death Penalty Law is one of several moves by Ben Gvir to present a hard-line approach to Palestinian terror. He provoked furor among some Israelis when he began to wear a lapel pin shaped like a hanging noose. 

He also attempted to construct a moat filled with crocodiles at Israel’s Ketziot Prison, inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center for illegal immigrants in southern Florida. 

Earlier this week, Ben Gvir drew outrage across the Arab world, saying that “30 to 40” people in the Gaza Strip should be killed by IDF airstrikes each night. 

The controversial comments came while Ben Gvir was a guest on the inaugural episode of a new podcast by Rom Braslavski, who was held captive by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza for some two years.

Ben Gvir told Braslavski, “I think targeted eliminations should be carried out in Gaza every night — take out 30, 40. Not only those who endanger you at that particular moment.” 

At present, the IDF has only targeted terrorist engaged in active terror activities in an apparent effort not to derail the negotiations over the U.S.-backed Gaza peace plan.

The construction at the prison will include several components: a dedicated wing for death row inmates, to which those sentenced to death in accordance with the law will be transferred; a dedicated hanging facility in the center of the wing, where sentences will be carried out; viewing booths that will allow victims of the crime and their families to watch the proceedings; and permits for official visitors from among bereaved families, who will also be able to  proceedings. 

“We are making history,” Ben Gvir stated. “These terrorists deserve only one thing - death by hanging.” 

The Knesset passed the so called Death Penalty for Terrorists Law in late March, by a vote largely along coalition-opposition lines, with 62 Knesset members supporting the bill and 48 opposing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also voted in favor of the bill. 

The bill drew controversy in the lead up to the vote, and several Israeli and international human rights organizations filed petitions with the High Court of Justice to challenge it. 

In May, despite the petitions against it, IDF Central Command chief, Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth, signed a military order to enact the measure as the default punishment for terror acts in Judea and Samaria. 

This came after Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered Maj. Gen. Bluth to enact the legislation, unless the military court finds that special circumstances exist in which a life sentence should be imposed instead. 

At the time, Defense Minister Israel Katz said, “The era of containment is over. Terrorists who murder Jews will not sit in prison under favorable conditions, will not wait for deals and will not dream of release - they will pay the heaviest price.” 

So far, the High Court has not issued any ruling on the Death Penalty Law, meaning the law is in force. 

Notably, the law is not retroactive, meaning that it does not include the terrorists already arrested on and after the events of Oct. 7, 2023. 

Critics of the bill note that only Palestinians are tried by the military courts, while Israeli citizens are subject to the regular civilian courts. The discriminatory nature of this difference has drawn internal and international criticism, increasing the likelihood that the High Court will strike it down. 

Israel's move to reinstate the death penalty comes at a time when many countries around the world have abolished the death penalty. However, several countries, including the United States, maintain the death penalty for certain serious crimes.