Israel deploys crocodiles around Palestinian prisoners' wing in Katziot

In what has been described as the most extreme and brutal in the history of the Israeli prison administration,  the National Security Ministry, led by extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, has begun digging trenches dedicated to crocodiles around a wing that holds Palestinian prisoners and Hamas members inside the Ketzioth prison in the Negev desert, Yedioth Ahronoth confirmed.

 The move, which stretches for about 170 metres, came despite widespread legal and environmental objections, amid accusations that the project is "absurd and dangerous" and uses predators as an unprecedented deterrent.

The newspaper quoted an Israeli official  as saying that the trenches are dug inside the prison walls and cannot be seen from the outside, adding: "No one knows if the crocodiles will actually be placed, but preparations are underway," while  the office of extremist Ben Gvir  announced that the experimental phase of the crocodile prison has officially begun, saying, "Anyone who thought this was just a ploy was wrong."

According to the newspaper, the Israel Prison Service has prepared a complete plan to house and supervise crocodiles, and prison officers have received special training to deal with them, while 21 million shekels ($6.3 million) have been allocated for the project.

Nile crocodile becomes a 'domesticated animal'

 The project follows a controversial  legal move by Environmental Protection Minister Edith Silman last week, when she decided to classify the Nile crocodile as a "domesticated wild animal", despite objections from her ministry's legal adviser and experts from the Nature and Parks Authority.

 This designation gave Ben-Gvir the "legal path" he needed to pass the bill, which was rejected by the so-called "Nature and Parks Authority" with all its members, as they warned that the use of crocodiles in securing prisons is not based on any professional or legal basis, and that previous experiences in the Negev have proven the danger of breeding these animals after some of them escape and threaten public safety.

Ben-Gvir is inspired by the American Alcatraz Alcatraz

  Ben-Gvir  was inspired  by the controversial  American model known as the Alligator Alcatraz, which became a symbol of security extremism during the Trump administration, after it was built in 2025 in the heart of the Florida swamps to be a natural prison guarded by crocodiles, snakes and predators.

U.S. reports confirm that the center was built in just eight days over an abandoned airstrip within the Everglades Reservation, in an isolated area 70 kilometers from Miami, and has been promoted as a "deterrent model" based on the same nature as a free guard. But they are in the form of crocodiles."

 Reports by Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union described the site as a "horrific moral atrocity" as conditions inside the camp were catastrophic, with more than 700 migrants trapped inside ambulance tents, suffocating heat, mosquitoes and disease-carrying insects, contaminated water and food, and strong lighting burning all day long as a form of psychological torture.

The project did not last  long, as it turned into a financial and legal burden that cost the state $1.2 billion, before it was closed permanently in June 2026 by a court decision following environmental lawsuits filed by nature conservation organizations and indigenous tribes due to the damage it caused to the fragile swamps.