Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday slammed a reported decision to release 30 Palestinian terrorists who were captured by Israel Defense Forces troops in the Gaza Strip.
“The decision by the IDF and the National Security Council to release terrorists back into the Gaza Strip without conditions is unfathomably delusional,” the Otzma Yehudit Party leader told Channel 14 News.
“The IDF is expected to withstand the shortage of prison space during a war when there are tens of thousands of detained terrorists, just as the Israel Prison Service does very well,” he added, in reference to the organization that falls under his responsibility.
According to the Channel 14 report, the IDF and the Israeli National Security Council, which sits in the Prime Minister’s Office, decided to release 30 terrorists who were arrested in Gaza and have been incarcerated at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel.
The decision was reportedly made after a petition against the government was submitted to the High Court of Justice.
The petitioners complained of overcrowding at the facility, which houses Hamas operatives detained as part of the war against the terrorist organization, including during the Oct. 7 atrocities.
A document submitted to the court and seen by Channel 14 said the suspects would be set free in Gaza without conditions on Tuesday and that their criminal case would be examined following their release.
Earlier this year, 40 Palestinian administrative detainees were released from jail at the directive of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) as a goodwill “gesture” ahead of Ramadan, not due to lack of space in the prisons, Ben-Gvir tweeted in March..
That same month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an urgent directive for government ministries to prepare prisons for an influx of thousands of terrorists expected to be arrested this year.
The order came after the IDF and Shin Bet presented their assessment at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv that in 2024, thousands of terrorists in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip will be detained, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
