DaysofPal- As the Israeli Knesset edges closer to voting on a bill authorizing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, human rights advocates warn that the measure merely seeks to legalize what Israeli occupation has long practiced: the killing of Palestinian detainees inside prisons and detention centers.
The proposed law, advanced by the far-right Jewish Power party led by the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was approved on Sunday by the Knesset’s National Security Committee in its first reading.
It will now move to the plenary for further debate and voting in upcoming sessions.
Rights groups and Palestinian factions have denounced the legislation as a dangerous escalation and a blatant violation of international law.
Hamas said in a statement that the move “reflects the fascist nature of the Israeli occupation” and amounts to “an attempt to legitimize executions and liquidations inside prisons.”
The movement called on the United Nations and human rights organizations to intervene immediately and send international committees to inspect Israeli prisons, particularly after revelations of abuse in the Sde Teiman detention camp.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office also condemned the bill, calling it “a war crime that institutionalizes a policy of execution that the Israeli occupation has practiced for decades under various pretexts.”
It warned that the law represents “a direct threat to the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners” who already face systematic torture, medical neglect, and extrajudicial killings.
Observers note that the Israeli push to formalize the death penalty is not a new policy but the continuation of a longstanding pattern of violence against prisoners.
Historical accounts document multiple cases of Palestinian detainees executed in cold blood long before any legal framework existed.
In 1970, Sameh Abu Hasballah, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine from Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, was executed after weeks of torture in Gaza’s Central Prison.
Israeli forces reportedly blindfolded and handcuffed him before taking him to a secluded area west of the camp, where he was shot dead in front of witnesses.
In 1988, amid prisoner protests in the Ketziot (Negev) desert prison, Israeli officers stormed the cells, killing Asaad al-Shawa and Bassam al-Samoudi after they refused forced labor orders. Testimonies from survivors describe how one officer fired ten bullets into al-Shawa’s chest before killing al-Samoudi in a nearby tent.
More than 80 prisoners were injured in the raid, an atrocity human rights observers described as unprecedented since World War II.
In 2007, another prisoner, Mohammed al-Ashqar, was killed during a violent raid by the Israeli “Nahshon” special unit in the same Negev prison.
Al-Ashqar was shot in the head as forces fired live ammunition and used tear gas and stun grenades against detainees, setting their tents ablaze.
Critics argue that the new Israeli bill seeks to provide judicial cover for these long-standing practices of extrajudicial execution.
“The occupation has never needed a law to kill,” a Palestinian rights advocate said, noting that “Now it simply wants to dress murder in the language of justice and deterrence.”
As the Israeli far-right coalition pushes forward, Palestinian officials warn that the “death penalty law” will mark a new chapter of impunity and violence, turning Israeli prisons from sites of detention into legalized killing fields.
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