Following the attack in Tarqumiyah and the murder of the hostages, Minister Ben Gvir wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, requesting that the upcoming Cabinet meeting address advancing the death penalty legislation for terrorists and make a decision on imposing a general lockdown, including the deployment of checkpoints throughout Judea and Samaria.
In his letter, Ben Gvir noted that the security situation in Judea and Samaria is unacceptable and recalled that at the beginning of the war, the army imposed a lockdown on villages and cities in the West Bank, including checkpoints, but these have been gradually removed. Currently, residents of the Palestinian Authority move almost freely on the roads in Judea and Samaria.
In addition, the minister highlighted the tragic news this morning about the murder of six hostages in Hamas captivity. Ben Gvir reminded Netanyahu and Hanegbi that despite the need for a Cabinet discussion to advance the death penalty law for terrorists, several requests from him, including during the war, have not been addressed. "The answer to the execution of our hostages by Hamas terrorists requires a very painful Israeli response to Hamas," he wrote. "The death penalty law for terrorists, which could enable the imposition of a death sentence on the Nukhba terrorists responsible for the kidnapping and murder, could indeed be such a response."
"Given all the above," Ben Gvir concluded, "I request that the Cabinet meeting today discuss and make decisions on the rapid advancement of the death penalty law for terrorists and the imposition of a general lockdown, including the deployment of checkpoints throughout the West Bank, alongside increased IDF operations against various terrorist organizations."