Israel’s Knesset (parliament) approved the death penalty law, adding another official mechanism to existing practices of killing Palestinians.

Groundxero | 30 March, 2026

Israel’s Knesset (parliament) approved a controversial law allowing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners on Monday. The Death Penalty Law institutionalises and legalises the Zionist state’s mechanism for executing Palestinians.

The bill authorizes the execution of Palestinians prisoners in military court by hanging, and requires execution within 90 days of sentencing for any Palestinian found to have caused the death of a settler while defending their land or otherwise resisting the occupation.

The law, pushed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was approved in a 62-48 vote. The bill is expected to be put to a final vote on Wednesday of this week and then become law. The bill’s passage is a terrifying development for thousands of Palestinian political prisoners who remain behind bars in Zionist prisons.

Death penalty is for Palestinians only:

The law is worded to apply to Palestinians only, and it is set to make the killing of Palestinians a normalized, common punitive tool through several mechanisms:

The law gives military courts no discretion. Military judges will be required to sentence Palestinians convicted of murder to death, except in “special circumstances.” There is no requirement for a unanimous decision. A simple majority will suffice, and avenues for appeal will be extremely limited.

The mass incarceration of Palestinians is a feature of Israel’s apartheid regime. As of March 2026, about 9,500 Palestinians are held in inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons, roughly half of them under administrative detention or as “unlawful combatants,” without trial and with no ability to defend themselves. Only Palestinians are tried in military courts. The conviction rate for Palestinians in Israel’s military courts is over 96%, based largely on “confessions” extracted under duress and torture during interrogations. The penalty, execution by hanging, must be carried out within 90 days of sentencing, with no possibility of pardon. A designated prison officer will execute the sentence.

B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, said: Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 72,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and at least 1,050 Palestinians in the West Bank. During this time, more than 80 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons, which have turned into a network of torture camps where prisoners are subjected to continuous abuse and violence. The death penalty law adds another official killing mechanism to existing practices.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor stated that Israel’s new law makes the death penalty the default for Palestinians, warning it violates international law and fair trial standards.

The Palestinian Presidency issued a statement saying that the new Israeli law is a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law” and a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet hailing from Gaza wrote in his Facebook post: “If the Israeli occupation proceeds with hanging Palestinian detainees, it will be continuing a grim, century-old precedent of state-sanctioned violence and terrorism. The silence and complicity of the international community in the face of Palestinians enduring the harshest punishments, whether they resist or not, have become disturbingly normalized.”

The Law to execute Palestinians enjoys broad public support in Israel, and the Israel Prison Service has already begun preparing designated execution facilities. Shortly after the bill’s approval, Israel’s security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and many others openly celebrated and toasted the bill’s approval. Ben-Gvir and other members of the Knesset were seen in the weeks leading up to the vote sporting noose pins on their blazers, as they lobbied to get the bill through to the final stages.

The death penalty is a total violation of the most basic human rights, primarily, the right to life. Israel enforces a comprehensive policy of killing and oppression against the Palestinian people in all the territories it controls. The Death Penalty Law gives Israel’s apartheid regime yet another tool for advancing that policy.