Israel’s Ben-Gvir renews call to kill Palestinian detainees, restrict movement in West Bank

JERUSALEM

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir renewed his call Sunday for restricting the movement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and advocated for the killing of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.

In a post on his X account, Ben-Gvir called for “increasing the number of military checkpoints in the West Bank and halting the movement of Palestinians on its streets.”

His call followed the death of three police officers in a shooting attack near Hebron in the southern West Bank early Sunday.

"The right of Israelis to live takes precedence over the freedom of movement of Palestinian Authority residents," Ben-Gvir said as he inspected the site of the attack.

The extremist minister also called for adding the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners to the agenda of the Israeli security cabinet meeting on Sunday.

While calling for occupying more Palestinian lands and establishing a Jewish-only settlement in Gaza, Ben-Gvir accused the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority of “inciting terrorism and paying salaries to those who kill Jews.”

His call came as Israel continued a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, killing at least 26 Palestinians, arresting dozens, and inflicting huge financial losses on the territory.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year.

At least 676 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 5,600 injured and 10,400 others detained in the occupied territory, according to Palestinian figures.

In a landmark opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala