Israel begins digging crocodile trenches around prison wing holding Hamas members

Trenches intended to hold crocodiles are being dug around a high-security wing of a prison in southern Israel housing Hamas members, according to an Israeli media report on Wednesday.

The trenches are being dug around the Ketziot prison and will extend about 170 meters, daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

A local official from the Ramat Negev Regional Council, where the prison is located, said the trenches are being dug inside the prison around one of its special wings and cannot be seen from outside.

“No one knows if there will actually be crocodiles there, but preparations are being made,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying.

The Israeli National Security Ministry also confirmed the start of work on channels designated for crocodiles, according to the newspaper.

Reclassifying as 'domesticated wild animal'

The project came after Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman decided last week to classify the Nile crocodile as a “domesticated wild animal,” despite objections from professional officials in her ministry.

The office of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Silman’s decision “paved the way for the project,” adding that the “pilot phase of the crocodile prison has officially begun” in one wing of Ketziot prison.

“Anyone who thought this was just a stunt was wrong,” Ben-Gvir’s office said.

The Israeli Prison Service prepared a plan to care for, supervise and house the crocodiles, while prison officers received training on how to handle them and the project has been allocated 21 million shekels ($6.3 million), according to the newspaper.

Harsh conditions

Israel has arrested hundreds of Palestinians since Oct. 8, 2023, claiming they belong to the Nukhba unit of Hamas’s military wing, and plans to try them before special courts.

Ben-Gvir previously published videos from the special wing at Ketziot to show harsh detention conditions, including preventing detainees from leaving the wing, depriving them of blankets and food, and forcing them to sleep on iron sheets.

Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority held an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the use of crocodiles in prisons, and all participants opposed the proposal, Yedioth Ahronoth said.

Silman’s classification of the Nile crocodile contradicted the opinion of her ministry’s legal adviser and the professional position of the Nature and Parks Authority, the newspaper said.

Ketziot, located in the Negev desert, is Israel’s largest prison and includes sections for Palestinian “security” detainees. It has long been used to hold detainees from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

According to Palestinian prisoner institutions, the number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons has risen 83% since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in October 2023, exceeding 9,600 detainees compared with around 5,250 before the war.