Israel’s death penalty bill marks 'highly dangerous phase' for Palestinian prisoners: PPS

The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) has warned that Israel is entering a “highly dangerous phase” of punitive escalation against Palestinian detainees, as it prepares to implement a death penalty law targeting prisoners.

Israel is fast-tracking the law amid “international complicity and a complete failure to protect thousands of prisoners,” PPS said in a statement on Monday.

The group described the legislation as reflecting an unprecedented level of brutality, calling it the “peak of the ongoing genocide” against Palestinian detainees.

It warned that the law would turn Israeli prisons into arenas for torture, starvation, and the systematic killing of prisoners through slow‑death policies.

PPS added that these measures aim to institutionalize retaliation and mark a historic escalation in repression within Israeli prisons.

The advocacy group further said that the reported measures amount to the “peak of the ongoing genocide against Palestinian prisoners.”

Israel's Channel 13 earlier reported that the Israeli occupation authorities have, in recent days, begun special preparations to enforce the law.

These preparations reportedly include the construction of a dedicated execution complex within the Israeli prison system, the establishment of detailed procedures, and the training of selected prison staff, alongside consultations on practices used by other countries for death penalty.

The report said the new execution site will be referred to as the “Israeli Green Corridor” and that executions would be carried out by hanging, with three guards simultaneously pressing an activation button.

Under the proposed framework, executions would take place within 90 days of a final judicial ruling.

Israeli media reported that the law would initially be applied to prisoners accused of belonging to elite units of Hamas resistance movement.

The scope of the law would later expand to include Palestinian prisoners convicted of carrying out attacks in the occupied West Bank.

Rights group records 270% rise in Israel's 'administrative detention' of Palestinians since Gaza genocide started

A Palestinian prisoners’ rights group has recorded an unprecedented surge in administrative detention against Palestinian prisoners.

Last week, at least a dozen United Nations experts called on Israel to withdraw the proposed death penalty legislation, warning that the Israeli military legal system in the occupied Palestinian territories violates international law and fundamental human rights standards.

The PPS added that the proposed law cannot be viewed in isolation, framing it as part of a broader campaign of genocide against Palestinians. The group stressed that Israeli prisons have effectively become an extension of the regime’s wider system of collective punishment.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says that at least 72,032 people, mostly women and children, have been killed and 171,661 others wounded since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

Since the ceasefire was announced last October, Israel has killed 587 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,550 others amid continued violations of the agreement.

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