The death penalty bill, which enjoys broad support from the Israeli public, is expected to pass in the Knesset tomorrow (Monday, 30 March). The Israel Prison Service has already begun preparing designated facilities for execution.
B'Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak: "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."
The death penalty law will institutionalize a state mechanism for executing Palestinians. The law is worded to apply to Palestinians only, and is set to normalize their execution as a common punitive tool through several measures:
The penalty – execution by hanging – must be carried out within 90 days of sentencing, with no possibility of pardon. The death penalty will be determined in military courts where only Palestinians are tried. These courts have an approximately 96% conviction rate, based largely on “confessions” extracted under duress and torture during interrogations.
The death penalty will be the default sentence, and judges will be able to commute it to life imprisonment only in special circumstances. In addition, the judges will no longer be required to reach a unanimous decision. A simple majority will suffice, and once the sentence has been handed down, there will be no possibility of a pardon or any reduction of the sentence.
Some lawmakers have accompanied Knesset debates over the bill with rhetoric that glorifies killing. For example, MKs have arrived at debates wearing gold pins shaped like a gallows' noose on their lapels, heatedly discussed execution methods, lashed out at doctors refusing to cooperate with the move, and boasted that many Israelis would volunteer to carry out the executions:
Israel is already killing Palestinians in unprecedented numbers:
Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 72,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and at least 1,050 Palestinians in the West Bank. During this time, more than 80 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons, which have turned into a network of torture camps where inmates are subjected to continuous abuse and violence. The death penalty law adds another official killing mechanism to the existing practices.
Mass incarceration of Palestinians is a feature of Israel’s apartheid regime. As of March 2026, about 9,500 Palestinians are being held in inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons, roughly half of them under administrative detention or as “unlawful combatants,” without trial and with no ability to defend themselves.
