How Israel’s proposed death penalty for Palestinian violates international law

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How Israel’s proposed death penalty for Palestinian violates international law

The head of the United Nations’ human rights office on Friday called on Israeli authorities to drop plans to introduce any law prescribing mandatory deaths only to Palestinian citizens. Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned of violations of international laws and international standards on human rights.

“When it comes to the death penalty, the United Nations is very clear, and opposes it under all circumstances,” Türk said. “It is profoundly difficult to reconcile such punishment with human dignity and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people.”

What do the draft proposals entail?

The series of draft proposals currently before Israel’s Knesset would lower the threshold for applying capital punishment and introduce mandatory death sentences, leaving courts with no discretion. 

According to Türk, this violates the right to life and Israel’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Palestinian prisoners in Israel are already put through cruel conditions; over the past two years alone, rights groups have recorded the deaths of at least 94 Palestinians and various cases of rape caught on camera.

Who is behind the push for harsher prison laws?

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right Israeli cabinet minister in charge of prisons, has also openly admitted to making the living conditions for the Palestinian prisoners worse. In late October, he found an audience where he proposed the death sentence for the ‘terrorists’ among the Palestinians while standing over other inmates who were lying face down on the floor.

What legislative steps has Israel already taken?

In early November, the parliament in Israel passed the first reading of legislation regarding the death penalty for persons who murder Israelis with what they term “racist” motives or in an attempt to harm Israel. Again, it is obvious that this legislation is aimed at Palestinians, even though Israelis continue their fatal attacks against Palestinians in both occupied West Bank and Israel, as well as military attacks on Gaza.

How have Palestinians reacted to the proposed law?

Palestinian leaders and activists have expressed alarm. Farid al-Atrash, director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in the occupied West Bank, said:

“This law practically aims to execute prisoners simply for their struggle for their people’s freedom and their right to self-determination.”

Lawyers warn that the law undermines judicial safeguards and seeks to erase the status of Palestinian detainees as protected under international law.

How would the law change military and civil courts’ authority?

Under the draft legislation, Israeli courts—both civil and military—would gain expanded power to impose mandatory death sentences on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis when acts are deemed nationalistic, racist, or intended to harm Israel.

The proposals would amend military law governing the occupied West Bank and Israel’s Penal Law to introduce the death penalty for intentional killings in acts of terror. This could retroactively affect those convicted for killings during the October 7, 2023 attacks, violating the principle of legality in international law.

The law would also:

  • Remove the authority for a government or president to grant pardons for these crimes.
  • Allow courts to impose death sentences without a unanimous panel of judges.
  • Eliminate safeguards previously available to Palestinian defendants.

What are the international law implications?

Critics argue that the law attempts to strip Palestinians of protections under international humanitarian law as an occupied people with a recognized right to resistance. Hassan Breijieh, head of the Bethlehem office of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission, said:

“[The proposed law] is an attempt to erase international recognition of the Palestinian fighter … and turn him into a criminal defendant.”

Palestinian lawyer Saeed al-Awiwi emphasized that even previously permissible access to detainees in Israeli prisons has been revoked, leaving many without meaningful legal representation, especially in military courts.

How could the death penalty formalize existing abuses?

Al-Awiwi warned that many Palestinians already die in Israeli prisons without trial, sentencing, or due process. If the death penalty becomes codified, actions that previously caused these deaths—torture, medical neglect, and arbitrary detention—could gain official legal standing.

“The move towards legal execution legalises actions already practised by the [Israeli] occupation, but without accountability,” al-Awiwi said.

According to Palestinian advocates, the bill does more than legislate death sentences—it criminalizes resistance itself. Hassan Breijieh described it as “prosecuting the very idea of freedom,” while Amjad al-Najjar said:

“The law means the collapse of the international system. The occupation has no legal, moral, or political right to issue death sentences against an occupied people.” For Palestinians, the bill represents a fundamental challenge to existing norms of international humanitarian law and raises grave questions about their rights under occupation.