An Israeli court has temporarily suspended a plan to place crocodiles around Ketziot Prison in the Negev desert. Under a proposal by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, crocodiles were to be released into a moat around the prison, where Palestinians detained from Gaza are held, according to Anadolu.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported that the Jerusalem District Court issued the temporary injunction Sunday evening after the animal rights group Let the Animals Live filed a petition against the plan.
Judge Abraham Rubin barred the authorities from taking any action based on a decision by Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman. Her decision classified crocodiles as domesticated wildlife, which would have allowed their transfer and confinement at the prison under the legal framework.
Kan said the ruling came hours after an administrative petition was filed against Ben-Gvir, Silman and the Israel Prison Service. The dispute centers on Silman’s July 15 decision, which sought to authorize the use of crocodiles at the prison as a preventive and security measure.
The petition said the decision changed the crocodiles’ legal status and removed the controls and licensing requirements that applied to them as protected wildlife.
According to Kan, the Israel Prison Service had already begun infrastructure work, including digging a trench around the prison, and the National Security Ministry had allocated about 21 million shekels, approximately $6.9 million, for the pilot project.
Since taking office in late 2022, Ben-Gvir has overseen tougher detention conditions for Palestinian prisoners, including policies that rights groups describe as starvation, medical neglect, torture and solitary confinement. Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups say about 9,500 Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, are currently held in harsh conditions in Israeli prisons. The groups allege that many have died as a result of starvation, torture and medical neglect.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report