DaysofPal – Israel has officially enforced a new law authorizing the death penalty for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank after the territory’s top military commander signed the order bringing the measure into effect on Sunday.
The law grants Israeli military courts the authority to sentence Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis to death, while allowing judges to impose life imprisonment only in exceptional cases. Critics say the legislation effectively makes execution the default punishment in most prosecutions.
The measure, which was approved earlier this year, only applies to Palestinians who are tried in Israel’s military court system in the occupied West Bank. Israeli citizens and settlers living in the same territory remain subject to civilian courts and are exempt from the law, a distinction that rights groups say further entrenches a dual legal structure based on nationality and identity.
One of the conditions for imposing the death penalty under the legislation is that the accused acted with the intent to “negate the existence of the State of Israel or the authority of the military commander in the area,” wording critics argue overwhelmingly targets Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised the measure following its implementation, presenting it as a necessary step against Palestinian armed resistance.
Ben-Gvir hailed the implementation as a major political victory for his Jewish Power party.
“We promised and we fulfilled,” Ben-Gvir stated, adding that Israel would “not capitulate or contain murderous terrorism; we defeat it.”
The law has triggered widespread condemnation from Palestinian organizations and human rights groups, which warn that it formalizes discrimination within Israel’s legal system and strips Palestinians of basic legal protections.
Critics argue the legislation deepens an already entrenched system in which Palestinians and Israeli settlers living in the same occupied territory are governed under entirely separate legal frameworks.
Human rights organizations have also described the measure as a dangerous escalation amid growing reports of mass arrests, allegations of torture, and deaths in Israeli custody since the intensification of the war on Gaza.
Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups called the law an “unprecedented act of savagery,” accusing Israel of codifying violence against detainees while prison conditions continue to deteriorate.
Israeli advocacy organizations, including Adalah, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, HaMoked, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, also criticized the legislation, warning that it creates a discriminatory punitive framework that denies Palestinians equal legal protection and safeguards against abuse.
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