Israeli Occupation’s Approval of the Prisoners’ Execution Law Legalized Killing and Organized State Terror… Palestinians Civilians Pay the Price of International Inaction

date:30 Mar 2026

Press Statement

Israeli Occupation’s Approval of the Prisoners’ Execution Law: Legalized Killing and Organized State Terror… Palestinians Civilians Pay the Price of International Inaction

Dr. Salah Abdel Ati, Chairman of the International Commission to Support Palestinian People’s Rights (ICSPR), strongly condemned the Israeli Knesset’s final approval of the law permitting the execution of Palestinian prisoners. The law was passed with a majority of 62 votes in favor, 47 against, and one abstention. He stated that this step represents an extremely dangerous escalation that legalizes extrajudicial killing and threatens the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

Abdel Ati explained that this serious development comes despite repeated warnings issued by ICSPR and other human rights organizations throughout the various legislative stages of the law, including the general and first readings, as well as despite international condemnations and demands from the United Nations, the European Union, and several countries. This reflects Israel’s insistence on defying international will and evading its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, demonstrating unprecedented disregard for the international legal system.

Abdel Ati emphasized that this law constitutes a dangerous precedent in Israeli legislation, as it is based on:

• Imposing the death penalty mandatorily without requiring unanimous judicial consensus, thereby undermining the most basic guarantees of a fair trial.
• Carrying out executions within a period not exceeding 90 days, depriving prisoners of the right to appeal and effective legal review.
• Eliminating any possibility of pardon or sentence commutation, turning the punishment into a tool of political retaliation unrelated to justice.

He stressed that any implementation of this law would constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity under international law, particularly the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, which prohibit an occupying power from issuing or carrying out death sentences against protected persons without stringent judicial guarantees.

Abdel Ati held the Israeli government, particularly National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, fully politically and legally responsible for this dangerous escalation. He pointed to policies based on public incitement, prison raids, intensified punitive measures, systematic abuse, torture, medical neglect, sexual assaults, and deprivation of basic rights—policies that have contributed to the deterioration of prisoners’ conditions and the rise in the number of deaths among prisoners to more than 100 over the past two years.

He warned that the world is now facing a new and dangerous phase in which actual executions of Palestinian prisoners may occur, alongside ongoing torture and medical neglect, raising the prospect of prisons being transformed into official killing grounds under legal cover.

Abdel Ati called on the international community, the United Nations, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, the International Committee of the Red Cross, human rights organizations, special rapporteurs, the European Union, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to:

• Take immediate and urgent action to halt the implementation of this law and prevent any executions of Palestinian prisoners.
• Activate international accountability mechanisms and prosecute Israeli officials before international courts, particularly political decision-makers.
• Provide urgent international protection for Palestinian prisoners, ensure their fundamental rights, and end collective punishment policies against them.

He concluded by stressing that international silence, inaction, or mere statements of condemnation are no longer acceptable, and will be interpreted as a green light to begin executions inside prisons—constituting a legal and moral stain on humanity.

Abdel Ati also called on free people around the world to take action to protect Palestinian prisoners from killing, and to pressure their governments to sever relations with Israel and impose sanctions on it.