The Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, issued a modification on Sunday to the administrative release law for convicts involved in “terrorism” cases, effectively abolishing their early release.
Ben Gvir stated, “I will continue to do my utmost to halt the favourable conditions that the prisoners have so far enjoyed.”
This move is part of Ben Gvir’s efforts to suppress convicts in Israeli prisons who are eligible for early release due to a lack of accommodation space, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.
In 2017, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a ruling that called on the authorities to provide each prisoner with a living space of either 4.5 square meters including a shower and toilet or 4 square meters without a shower and toilet.
At the beginning of the current month, an Israeli human rights organization reported that Israel is currently detaining more than 1,100 Palestinians without trial or charge, the highest number since 2003, according to The Times of Israel.
The newspaper added that the vast majority of detainees are Palestinians, with only four of them being Israeli Jews.
For its part, the group Hamoked, which regularly collects numbers from Israeli prison authorities, reported that 1,132 people are held in administrative detention. This practice effectively allows for the indefinite detention of prisoners without charge and the denial of access to evidence against them.
