Israel Passes Law to Execute Palestinian Prisoners by Hanging
Gaza City, Palestine — Israel’s Knesset passed a discriminatory law on March 30 that mandates Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks be killed by hanging within 90 days of military sentencing. As thousands of Palestinians remain in Israeli jails, Palestinians in Gaza held protests against the new law that would institutionalize a state mechanism for executing Palestinians.
The bill was immediately appealed by human rights groups and is expected to be struck down by Israel’s Supreme Court. A joint statement by humanitarian organizations urged the EU to take measures against Israel for continuing to cross “established EU red lines,” and UN experts have called for a suspension of EU-Israel trade agreements.
“This is an unjust law against our prisoners in the occupation’s prisons, which was passed yesterday by the so-called Zionist Knesset,” said Muawiya al-Sufi, the official in charge of prisoners’ affairs for the Ahrar Movement, to Unicorn Riot on March 31 in Gaza City. UR covered protests against the new law on March 31 and April 4, both in front of the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“We came today in front of the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross to demand that the entire world, the Red Cross, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and international and human rights institutions, take a clear stance against this unjust law against our prisoners in the occupation’s prisons.”
Muawiya al-Sufi, head of prisoners’ affairs for the Ahrar Movement.
The Palestinian Ahrar Movement, which advocates for Palestinian prisoners, made a press statement in May noting that Israel’s “audacity in enacting these racist laws would not have been possible without absolute American support and the double standards of the international community, which grant the enemy the green light to continue its crimes.”
The Death Penalty for Terrorists law was brought forth by the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, headed by far-right extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister. Ben-Gvir and four others wore gold noose-shaped pins during the hearing on the bill. (The government’s majority in the Knesset includes Otzma Yehudit and the Religious Zionist Party led by Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, which is a Jewish supremacist party that favors ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank.)
Israel’s prison system is notorious for human rights violations and has been called a ‘network of torture camps‘ by rights organizations. After the October 7 attack on Israel in 2023, Israel’s prisons became even worse as Israel mass detains, tortures, sexually abuses, neglects and murders Palestinian prisoners with no accountability.
There are an estimated 9,600 Palestinians in Israeli jails and prisons currently, including 80-plus women and around 350 children.
Among the prisoners are 3,324 people being held, as of early June, on the internationally condemned and illegal practice of administrative detention, with no access to lawyers or court dates scheduled. Additionally 1,316 prisoners have been classified as “unlawful combatants.” At least 93 Palestinians have died in Israeli detention since Oct. 2023.
2023 Publication: Administrative Detention and ‘Medical Neglect’ in Israeli Prisons Lead to Deaths and Protests
On March 31 in Gaza City, a spokesperson for the Red Cross, Amani al-Naour, told UR that any person accused of crimes during armed conflict should still protected and “receive a fair trial.”
“Speaking broadly and what we can say in any armed conflict, persons or individuals accused, and or, brought for a trial must benefit from a series of procedural safeguards and fundamental guarantees that are designed to ensure that those individuals are protected from being deprived unlawfully or wrongfully, from their fundamental human rights and freedoms, and that those people receive a fair trial.”
Amani al-Naour, spokesperson for the Red Cross
In front of the Red Cross headquarters, released Palestinian prisoner Majdi Yassin said, “we stand in solidarity after the racist law was passed in the Zionist Knesset to execute prisoners. This law constitutes a dangerous precedent for the execution of Palestinian prisoners under a legal, legitimate, and official cover within the Zionist entity.”
Prisoners under Israeli occupation have “spent years of their lives defending our Arab nation and the sons of our Palestinian people,” said Muawiya al-Sufi, “therefore, we call here — in the wounded and besieged Gaza Strip, which is subjected to daily wars — our people in the West Bank, our people in the 1948 territories, to hold massive marches and to set fires under the feet of this enemy, in order to overturn this law called (the execution of prisoners).”
Families of prisoners, including wives, were also present at the protests. We heard from two wives who both were aghast when hearing of the new law.
Wissam Salem confided that her “disappointment and grievance” was with “the Arab nation, which is supposed to support our voice and stand with us.”
Standing aside her young daughter and getting emotional, Hanan Saleh called for her husband’s release from prison, saying he’s innocent and also asked for the support of Arab nations.
“I call upon all Arab nations, every free voice, to stop the law of executing prisoners. My husband must be released. Enough injustice! He has children who want to see him. They cry for him every day. It has been a year and a half. There are many prisoners who must be released, and my husband is one of the most important. He is innocent. He did nothing wrong.”
Hanan Saleh
In a separate legislation, on May 11, 2026, Israel passed a new law to create a special tribunal to publicize death penalty trials for Palestinians charged with October 7 attacks. The trials of around 300 detainees are to be livestreamed from Jerusalem. A panel of judges will vote by majority to impose death sentences.
Yuli Novak, the executive director of human rights organization, B’Tselem said, “Israel is reaching a new low in the dehumanization of Palestinians, enshrining their cruel treatment in state law. It already kills Palestinians systematically and faces no demands for accountability. Under the leadership of top ministers, the Israeli system is day by day becoming a system that normalizes the killing and injury of human beings.”
Help support Unicorn Riot contributor Mohamed El Saife as he seeks to get his family out of Gaza.
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