The Israeli parliament’s National Security Committee approved a draft bill late on Tuesday in a step towards legalising the execution of Palestinian prisoners.
The bill is expected to be presented to the Knesset’s General Assembly next week for a vote in the second and third readings, which mark the final stages for it to become an enforceable law.
The committee made some amendments to the bill, which passed its first vote, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported, adding that executions would be carried out through hanging.
Those sentenced to death would be placed in a separate detention centre with no visits allowed except by authorised personnel, and lawyer consultations would be allowed only via video.
The execution must be carried out within 90 days of the decision.
The bill states that the death penalty can be imposed without a request from the prosecution, that unanimity will not be required for a death sentence, and that the decision will be made by a simple majority.
Military courts applying to Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank would also be able to impose the death penalty, with the defence minister having the right to submit an opinion to the judicial panel.
In the case of Palestinians under Israeli occupation being sentenced to death, the bill specifies that avenues for pardon or appeal would be closed.
For prisoners tried in Israel, the death penalty could be commuted to life imprisonment.
The bill was welcomed by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called it “a historic day”.
Israel has sharply escalated its violations against Palestinian detainees since the start of the war in October 2023, particularly those from Gaza, including starvation, torture, sexual violence and systematic denial of medical care, according to rights groups.
UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory Franscesca Albanese has warned though that the proposed Israeli bill introducing the death penalty for Palestinian detainees “marks yet another dangerous escalation”.
She accused governments of enabling abuses, saying Israel “has effectively been given a license to torture Palestinians because most of your governments, your ministers, have allowed it.” Albanese was speaking at the presentation of her latest report at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
According to the report, between October 2023 and January 2026, Israeli forces arrested more than 18 500 Palestinians, including children, while nearly 100 died in custody and about 4,000 remain forcibly disappeared. Thousands have been detained without charge and held in inhuman conditions, the report said.
Among those detained were doctors, journalists, and humanitarian workers, she added. – AA