Israeli bill to allow execution of Palestinian prisoners by hanging: Report

A controversial bill introduced in the Israeli Knesset would allow the execution of Palestinian prisoners by hanging, contradicting the regime's earlier statements that described lethal injection as the intended method.

Israeli media reports said on Tuesday that the legislation grants the Israel Prison Service commissioner the authority to appoint special officer tasked with carrying out executions.

The bill led by far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has now reached its second and third readings.

The Knesset approved the bill in a first reading on November 11 by a vote of 39 out of 120 lawmakers, with 16 voting against.

According to Haaretz newspaper, the process would be overseen by the prison warden, a judicial representative, and a member of the prisoner’s family. It allows executions to proceed even in the absence of some of those individuals, citing the need to avoid delays.

The bill also prohibits any commutation, appeal, or cancellation once a death sentence is issued.  Under the proposal, Israeli authorities involved in enforcing death sentences would be granted full criminal immunity.

Trials would be conducted before military judges and executions would be carried out within 90 days of a final ruling.

In addition, the legislation permits death sentences to be imposed without a request from the attorney general.

Prisoners sentenced to death would be held in complete isolation, with visits restricted exclusively to authorized personnel. Details of executions would be published on the Israel Prison Service’s website, while the identities of those carrying out the sentence would remain confidential.

Since the start of Israel's genocidal war, the regime has sharply escalated its violations against Palestinian detainees, particularly those from the besieged Gaza Strip, including starvation, torture, sexual violence and systematic denial of medical care.

Late last month, a report by leading Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups said Israel was committing a “systematic genocide” against Palestinians held in Israeli detention,

Rights groups have said that the past two years have witnessed an “unprecedented level of brutality and systematic execution of prisoners,” with the death toll in this period matching the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli custody over the past 24 years.

The Palestine Detainees Studies Center earlier stated that approximately 60 percent of Palestinian abductees held illegally in Israeli prisons endure chronic illnesses.

A significant number have lost their lives either during imprisonment or shortly after their release, due to the severity of their medical conditions.

Israel has killed more than 71,400 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 170,300 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023.

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