The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) condemns the Israeli Knesset’s approval, yesterday, of a law permitting the imposition of the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners. The ICHR considers this legislation a highly dangerous escalation and a grave and compounded violation of the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The ICHR believes that this law constitutes a legal cover for the policy of deliberate killing pursued by the occupying authorities and entrenches a legislative system based on discrimination and apartheid. It targets a specific group based on national and ethnic identity, thereby reinforcing a systematic regime of racial segregation and discrimination against the Palestinian people.
The ICHR further affirms that this law cannot be separated from the nature of the judicial system under which Palestinian prisoners are tried, a system that lacks even the minimum guarantees of a fair trial. Palestinian prisoners are brought before Israeli military courts, which have conviction rates approaching 100%, undermining the very essence of justice and rendering any rulings issued, especially death sentences, arbitrary measures lacking legal legitimacy and fundamental safeguards.
The ICHR also stresses that applying this law to Palestinian prisoners, particularly those from the occupied Palestinian territory, constitutes a clear violation of international law, including the provisions of the Hague and Geneva Conventions, which restrict the powers of the occupying power and prohibit it from imposing its legislation on the occupied population.
The ICHR notes that this law comes within the context of a dangerous and deteriorating reality inside Israeli prisons, where the occupying authorities practice a policy of slow, extrajudicial execution against Palestinian prisoners through torture, deliberate medical neglect, and poor detention conditions. Since October 2023, more than 100 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention as a result of these policies; the identities of 89 of them have been confirmed, in the absence of any genuine international accountability.
The ICHR affirms that the adoption of this law represents an extension of a systematic approach aimed at undermining the legal protection of Palestinian prisoners, directly threatening their lives and paving the way for a more dangerous phase of serious violations.
The ICHR calls on the international community and United Nations bodies to take urgent and effective action to halt this dangerous legislation, to exert the necessary pressure on the occupying power to repeal it, and to ensure accountability for its ongoing violations, thereby guaranteeing an end to impunity.
The ICHR also calls for the immediate provision of international protection for Palestinian prisoners and for ensuring respect for their fundamental rights in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, including protection from torture and ill-treatment.
