RAMALLAH, September 28, 2026 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) stated that the appearance of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir inside the cell of prisoner Hassan Salameh, a prominent leader of the prisoner movement, and his threat to kill and execute him in a video he posted on his platforms, reflects a systematic policy adopted by the occupation regime, and not an individual act.
In a statement issued Monday, PPS explained that the video comes after dozens of videos previously published by Ben-Gvir, in which he appeared deliberately humiliating, torturing, and threatening prisoners with death.
The prisoner's organization considered the latest video a new stage in the occupation's overt efforts to kill prisoners and target leaders of the prisoner movement, presenting this as a political achievement.
The PPS emphasized that the danger of this behavior is compounded by the explicit threat of murder and execution, amidst an unprecedented escalation of violence against prisoners in Israeli jails, particularly leaders. Since the beginning of the war, these leaders have been subjected to systematic policies including solitary confinement, physical assaults, starvation, denial of medical treatment, and frequent transfers—policies that threaten their lives and safety.
It warned against dismissing these videos as mere political propaganda, asserting that, in its assessment, they pave the way for targeting and eliminating leaders of the prisoner movement.
PPS noted that exploiting the prisoners' cause for political and electoral gain is not new. For years, prisoners have been used as a tool in election campaigns to promote more hardline stances against them. However, the PPS believes that what is happening today is far more dangerous, with the shift to direct threats of murder and execution, and the public display of the suppression of prisoners within the jails.
It held the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the life of prisoner Hassan Salameh and all other prisoners, calling on international and human rights organizations to assume their responsibilities, stop the official incitement against them, provide them with protection, and hold the occupation accountable for its violations against them.
Additionally, the PPS stressed that Ben-Gvir's threats and repeated displays of force within the prisons are inseparable from the system of oppression the prisoners endure, and that its continuation in the absence of international accountability poses an increasing threat to their lives.
Hassan Salameh was born on August 9, 1971, in Khan Younis. He became involved in the resistance movement at an early age and was arrested several times during the First Intifada, mostly under administrative detention. He was also wounded during this period.
The Israeli occupation authorities arrested Salameh in 1996 while he was in Hebron. He was wounded by Israeli gunfire during his arrest and spent time in an Israeli civilian hospital.
Following his arrest, he was subjected to a brutal interrogation that lasted approximately four months and included torture. In 1997, the Israeli occupation authorities sentenced him to 48 life sentences. According to the PPS, his sentence is the third longest among prisoners serving life sentences, after those of Abdullah Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamed.
Salameh was held in solitary confinement for approximately 14 years in two separate periods. His isolation ended after a hunger strike by prisoners in 2012. After the start of the war on the Gaza Strip, the occupation authorities re-isolated him, along with a number of leaders of the prisoners' movement, and he remains in isolation to this day.
During his years of imprisonment, Salameh married released prisoner Ghufran Zamel in 2010. The occupation authorities have continued to deny his wife visits since their marriage.
Throughout his long years of imprisonment, his family has only been able to visit him twice. He was also denied the opportunity to bid farewell to his mother and several other family members who perished during the years of the war on the Gaza Strip.
K.T
