Trenches intended to hold crocodiles are being dug around a high-security wing of a prison in southern Israel housing Palestinian resistance group Hamas members, according to an Israeli media report.
The trenches are being dug around the Ketziot prison and will extend about 170 metres, daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday.
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.
‘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 $6.3 million, according to the newspaper.
