On Sunday, Israeli media circulated a video originally posted to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s X account that documents his incendiary visit to Damon Prison, the facility where dozens of Palestinian female prisoners are currently detained. The footage captures Ben Gvir entering the prisoners’ cells unannounced, publicly boasting about the severe, substandard conditions of their confinement even as detainees confront him with complaints about their treatment. In the exchange captured on camera, one prisoner outlined the harsh realities of her detention, but Ben Gvir dismissed her grievances outright, affirming that the era of tolerable conditions in Israeli prisons for Palestinian detainees had ended. “I am directly responsible for everything, and I am pleased with these conditions,” he told the women. In his accompanying social media post, Ben Gvir added that prisoner “whining” about poor conditions would not change his approach, confirming he would continue to enforce a policy that provides only the “bare minimum of the minimum” for detainees. The release of the video has triggered immediate widespread condemnation from Palestinian rights groups, international activists, and political factions, who frame the incident as open, documented proof of a deliberate state policy of abusing Palestinian prisoners. This is not the first time Ben Gvir has drawn heavy criticism for his treatment of detainees: the minister previously shared other prison videos in which he mocked Palestinian prisoners’ complaints about inadequate access to food, clean water, and humane living conditions. As the footage spread across social media, both international solidarity activists and Israeli anti-war activists gathered for a vigil outside the walls of Damon Prison to stand with the female detainees and protest Ben Gvir’s harsh policies. Sharif Tahaineh, husband of 49-year-old detainee Hanaa Tahaineh from Jenin’s Silat al-Harithiya town, confirmed that both his wife and fellow prisoner Yasmin Shaaban appear in the video, with Shaaban speaking on camera about the harsh conditions. Tahaineh, who was released from Israeli detention in early June after serving 22 months, told Middle East Eye he was shocked to see Hanaa’s drastically altered appearance, marked by severe weight loss, when the video was published. He explained that Hanaa was arrested just one week before his own release, and is currently being held under Israeli administrative detention — a controversial, renewable practice that allows indefinite detention without charge or trial. A mother of six children ranging from 10 to 24 years old, Hanaa lives with chronic rheumatism and migraines, and recently contracted scabies while in detention. With no access to medical treatment for the parasitic infection, she was forced to smear toothpaste on her skin to relieve the itching, her lawyer confirmed during a recent visit. Having experienced the harsh conditions of Israeli imprisonment firsthand, Tahaineh said he deeply understands his wife’s current suffering. He also noted that Ben Gvir explicitly targeted detainees from Jenin during the visit, telling the women “Tell Jenin that the prisons have gone from bad to worse” — a choice Tahaineh says confirms the video’s purpose was to deliberately humiliate and degrade the female prisoners. Critics of Ben Gvir argue that publishing the footage does more than document routine prison operations: it turns the extreme suffering of detainees into political propaganda for the far-right minister, at a time when global and regional concern over the treatment of thousands of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons has reached new heights. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC), a leading advocacy group for detainees, described the cell raid as an extension of a systematic Israeli policy that targets all Palestinian detainees, male and female, turning their abuse, rights violations, and what the group calls an ongoing process of genocide into political theater to boost domestic support. The PPC added that Ben Gvir’s actions go far beyond simple incitement, representing a deliberate provocation that abuses and dehumanizes detainees while turning prisons into a stage for far-right political posturing. “The Israeli prison system has become one of the most prominent sites of genocide, which has led to the deaths of more than 100 prisoners, 91 of whom have been identified, while Israel continues to withhold the bodies of some and conceal the fate of others,” the group said in a statement. Hamas, the governing Palestinian faction in Gaza, labeled Ben Gvir’s actions a clear example of “the level of fascism and political and moral depravity” that defines the Israeli occupation. In a Sunday statement, the group said the incident exposes the “vengeful, terrorist mentality that governs the behaviour of the Israeli occupation and its leaders, which cannot be tolerated.” Hamas warned that turning prisons into open spaces for abuse, humiliation, threats, torture, and murder, and exploiting detainee suffering for cheap domestic political gain, carries severe risks. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement held the entire Israeli government fully accountable for the safety and wellbeing of all Palestinian detainees, male and female, and called on international and humanitarian institutions to take urgent action to expose Israeli abuses and bring an end to ongoing violations. The Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners called the raid a blatant act of organized state abuse against female detainees, arguing that Ben Gvir’s public video sends a message to prison staff that repressive and degrading treatment of detainees is encouraged. “What is happening inside the prisons is not an isolated incident, but rather a broader policy for which the occupation government and the prison system bear responsibility,” the group added.