Gideon Levy Condemns Ben Gvir's Prison Reforms as Torture Camps for Palestinians

In a sharply critical article published in Haaretz on Sunday, journalist Gideon Levy condemned the Israeli government's security policies in the West Bank, focusing on the conditions of Palestinian detainees. Levy accused National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of transforming prisons holding thousands of Palestinian prisoners, many political detainees and some without trial, into horrific torture camps where people are dying.

Levy also criticized the expansion of violent settler outposts in the West Bank, stating that approximately 150 such outposts have seized hundreds of thousands of dunams of land, surpassing the scale of official settlement projects. He described the military and settler leadership as having become excessively empowered, with every regional commander acting like a general and every settler like a king.

Regarding the Israeli Defense Forces' use of force, Levy argued that since October 7, the army's rules of engagement have been loosened, resulting in over a thousand Palestinians killed in the West Bank, including more than 200 children. He noted that very few of those killed posed any threat. Levy accused soldiers returning from Gaza, their envious comrades, and violent settlers of adopting indiscriminate killing as a standard practice in the West Bank, despite the near absence of terrorism there. He concluded by questioning how much longer this situation will continue without resolution.