The war in the south. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir instructed the Prison Service to reduce the living space for prisoners in the prisons, while simultaneously transferring terrorists to mattresses, in order to accommodate additional terrorists who infiltrated from Gaza and were captured.
The decision was made after a discussion between Ben-Gvir and the government's legal advisor, Gali Baharav-Miara, along with the Prison Service commissioner, Chief Warden Kati Peri, in which the legal advisor accepted the Minister's position.
Yesterday (Wednesday), the Minister of Health, Moshe Arbel, sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu requesting explicit instructions to immediately release of terrorist patients from hospitals and transfer them for treatment to prison facilities.
In the letter issued by Arbel, it is written: "Since the start of the battles, the issue of treating the cursed and abhorrent Hamas terrorists in public hospitals has posed immense difficulties for the healthcare system."
According to the Minister, "During these difficult hours, the healthcare system needs to fully focus on treating the innocent victims of the brutal massacre, IDF soldiers, and readiness for what is to come. The responsibility for security and treatment of the cursed and abhorrent terrorists within the framework of the public healthcare system significantly impacts these efforts. Therefore, under my guidance, the public healthcare system will not treat them."
In conclusion, he wrote, "The responsibility for dealing with this issue should be entrusted to the IDF or the Prison Service, and of course, the Ministry of Health should be ready and willing to assist these bodies as needed. I request your immediate guidance to implement this directive across all relevant organizations."