“Fascist Move”: Israel Advances Bill Allowing Death Penalty for Palestinian Prisoners

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- An Israeli panel on Monday approved a bill introducing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, paving the way for its first reading in parliament amid widespread condemnation.

Tabled by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Jewish Power party, the proposal would allow Israeli courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israeli settlers on “nationalistic grounds”.

However, the legislation does not apply to Israelis who kill Palestinians under similar circumstances.

The bill has been promoted by far-right Israeli parties since before the genocide on Gaza began in October 2023, with renewed calls for its passage in recent months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the green light for the bill to move forward, according to Prisoners and Missing Persons Coordinator Gal Hirsch, who addressed the committee before the vote on Monday.

Hirsch said he held a discussion with Netanyahu before the debate, and both agreed on introducing the new law.

Hirsch previously opposed the bill over fears it would create obstacles for the release of captives held in Gaza. But now, after all the living captives were released last month by Hamas, his opposition has become “redundant”, Israeli media reported.

The bill could have its first of three readings in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, as soon as Wednesday.

Ben-Gvir thanked Netanyahu for his support. “I thank the prime minister for his support for Jewish Power’s bill for the death penalty for terrorists,” he wrote on X.

However, he stressed that courts should have no discretion in sentencing, saying: “Every terrorist who goes out to murder must know that the death penalty will be imposed on him.”

If this is the only democracy in the Middle East, what does a dictatorship look like?

“This is how we treat them. Minimum of minimum conditions. But there's something else we must do: death penalty for the terrorists” pic.twitter.com/hgSzGAJGxD

— Khalissee (@Kahlissee) October 31, 2025

Hamas condemned the move, adding the bill “embodies the ugly fascist face of the rogue Zionist occupation”.

It called for “the formation of international committees to enter Israeli prisons and examine the conditions of Palestinian detainees”.

The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy, a Gaza-based NGO, said the bill “constitutes an Israeli war crime” and warned of its repercussions.

“The consequences of this fascist measure will be even more violent, dragging the entire region into a new cycle of chaos whose outcome no one can predict,” the rights group added.

At least 10,000 people are currently being held in Israeli prisons, although the actual number is believed to be higher, as Israel has restricted information about the whereabouts of many detainees, particularly those who were abducted by its forces form Gaza during the genocide.