According to Israeli law, the process of introducing bills to the Knesset plenum takes place in stages, called "readings." In each reading, the bill is either accepted or rejected by a vote of Knesset members in the plenum. The readings also include discussions in Knesset committees that prepare the bill for subsequent legislative stages, according to the official Knesset website.
The official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that the bill was submitted by the far-right Jewish Power party, headed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The corporation added, "The National Security Committee approved, on Sunday, the first reading of the bill imposing the death penalty on terrorists."
The commission explained that the approval came despite a request from Gal Hirsch, the coordinator for prisoners and missing persons in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, to refrain from discussing the issue at this time, to avoid impacting the lives of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip.
"Savage"
In contrast, two Palestinian groups on Sunday denounced the Israeli Knesset committee's approval of a bill allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners as "unprecedented brutality" by the occupation.
This came in a joint statement by the Commission of Prisoners' and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs (official) and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club (civil society), following the Knesset's National Security Committee's approval of a bill authorizing the execution of Palestinian prisoners, pending a vote in the Knesset plenum, according to the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
The statement said, "The approval of the bill by the so-called Knesset National Security Committee is no longer a surprise in light of the unprecedented brutality practiced by the (Israeli) occupation regime." It added, "The occupation has not only killed dozens of prisoners and detainees since the (Israeli) war of extermination in Gaza, but is now seeking to entrench the crime of execution by enacting a special law."
According to Israeli law, the process of introducing bills to the Knesset plenum takes place in stages, called "readings." In each reading, the bill is either accepted or rejected by a vote of Knesset members in the plenum. The readings also include discussions in Knesset committees that prepare the bill for subsequent legislative stages, according to the official Knesset website.
The two organizations emphasized that "this law adds to a repressive legislative system that has targeted various aspects of Palestinian life for decades, and is an additional step to entrench the crime and attempt to legitimize it." They warned that "the occupying state acts as if it were above the law and beyond accountability, a fact clearly exposed by the war of extermination, which revealed the international community's impotence and systematic complicity in the system of colonialism and murder."
In March 2023, the Knesset approved in preliminary reading a bill that would allow the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners "convicted of killing Israelis." The bill, proposed by Ben-Gvir and supported by Netanyahu, was also approved.
The bill stipulates that "the death penalty shall be imposed on anyone who intentionally or recklessly causes the death of an Israeli citizen out of racist or hateful motives and to harm Israel."
The total number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons was approximately 11,100 as of the beginning of September, not including detainees held in Israeli military camps, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.
The total number of detainees includes 53 female prisoners, including two from Gaza, approximately 400 children, 3,577 administrative detainees (held in secret without trial), and 2,662 detainees from Gaza classified as "unlawful combatants."
In parallel with the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli occupation army and settlers escalated their attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,046 Palestinians, the injury of approximately 10,160, and the arrest of more than 19,000, according to official Palestinian data.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving 66,005 martyrs and 168,162 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 442 Palestinians, including 147 children.
