GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Hamas Movement has condemned the Israeli Knesset’s initial approval of a bill legislating the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners as a “serious act of state terrorism.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas underscored that this Knesset’s approval of the death penalty bill reflects “the extreme and unprecedented brutality of the Israeli occupation’s regime, which clearly violates all international resolutions and conventions on prisoners of war.”
Hamas accused the Israeli regime of seeking to turn prisons into execution arenas after having already used all forms of slow killing against prisoners through torture, deprivation, and medical neglect.
Hamas held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the consequences of this criminal law, which legitimizes the killing of Palestinian prisoners.
The Movement called on the international community, human rights organizations, and the world’s free people to take urgent action to prevent this bill from being enacted into law.
The Israeli Knesset’s national security committee approved a draft bill on Tuesday in a step towards legalizing the execution of Palestinian prisoners.
The bill is expected to be presented to the Knesset members next week for a vote in its second and third readings, which constitute the final stages before it becomes an enforceable law.
The committee made several amendments to the bill, which passed its first reading, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported, adding that a final death sentence would be carried out by hanging, within 90 days after the issuance of the verdict, by the Israeli prison service.
Those sentenced to death would be held in a separate detention facility, with no visits permitted except by authorized personnel, and legal consultations would be allowed only via video.
