RAMALLAH, February 16, 2026 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) published details today of a raid carried out last week by repression units at Ofer Prison, accompanied by the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and several Israeli media outlets. The raid was later broadcast on social media.
In a statement issued after a visit by its lawyer to a number of prisoners in Ofer Prison, the PPS confirmed that the raid targeted Section 26 and was carried out during the evening headcount, also known as the "security check." The raid lasted approximately fifteen minutes and involved the use of police dogs and stun grenades, amidst a large media presence.
The PPS indicated that Ben-Gvir was in the section for approximately an hour, during which he delivered a speech containing provocative and insulting remarks against the prisoners. The raid concluded without any reported injuries among them. The PPS described the incident as a show of force, part of a race among ministers in the extremist government to take revenge on Palestinians, suppress them, kill them, and fight against their very existence.
In this context, the PPS reiterated that the extremist minister Ben-Gvir's insistence on publishing videos documenting the suppression and abuse of prisoners, accompanied by propaganda slogans related to the law to execute Palestinian prisoners, is one of the most prominent tactics he employs for multiple purposes. These include attempting to gain the support of the Israeli public and boasting about his ongoing crimes within prisons and detention camps, which have become one of the most prominent sites of genocide, resulting in the killing of more than one hundred prisoners and detainees, 88 of whom have been identified.
It emphasized that these videos represent only a small fraction of the systematic torture inflicted upon prisoners by the occupation authorities in various prisons. It noted that hundreds of testimonies documented by relevant institutions since the beginning of this genocidal crime have reflected these violations, whether through legal teams monitoring visits to prisoners and detainees, or through testimonies from released prisoners.
Among these testimonies are accounts from several prisoners regarding the extremist minister, Ben-Gvir, who, during his prison visits, stomped on prisoners' heads and filmed their humiliation, torture, and abuse. The prisoners also confirmed that the repressive forces force them to keep their heads and faces pressed against the ground during these operations, with the aim of humiliating them, degrading their dignity, and physically torturing them.
The PPS emphasized that the Israeli prison system has been deliberately, since the beginning of its genocidal campaign, disseminating more videos and images documenting the abuse of prisoners. This is a continuous attempt to target the will of the Palestinian prisoner, undermine public awareness of their plight, intimidate their families, and compete in achieving ever-increasing levels of brutality to gain more support within Israeli society and satisfy its thirst for revenge. This is done without the slightest regard for the grave violations of international laws and humanitarian norms, and the blatant affront to human dignity that these practices entail.
The PPS reiterated its demand for urgent intervention to stop the genocide within the prisons, to enable international organizations, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross, to visit the prisoners, to allow family visits, and to impose sanctions on the occupation and its leaders to end their policy of impunity.
K.T
