Israel passes death penalty law for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks

Israel’s parliament has approved legislation that makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians convicted in military court of carrying out lethal attacks, a move that immediately sharpened domestic and international criticism.

Sixty-two lawmakers, among them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, backed the bill, while 48 voted against it. The measure was championed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

One member abstained, while the remaining lawmakers were absent from the vote.

An Israeli rights group has said it will challenge the decision in court.

Opponents said the law is aimed squarely at Palestinians in the West Bank, directing military courts in the occupied territory to hand down death sentences in cases involving the killing of Israelis unless “special circumstances” apply.

Rights groups say those courts try only Palestinians and record an almost 100% conviction rate.

One of Israel’s leading human rights organisations said it had already petitioned the country’s supreme court against the legislation.

“The Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition today to the High Court of Justice, demanding the annulment of the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law, enacted by the Knesset today, March 30, 2026,” the rights group said in a statement shortly after lawmakers approved the bill.

The organisation said its challenge rests on two main arguments.

“First, the Knesset has no authority to legislate for the West Bank. Israel holds no sovereignty there,” it said, referring to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.

“Second, the law is unconstitutional. It violates the right to life, human dignity, due process, and equality — rights protected under (Israel’s) Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.”

Hamas, Palestinian Authority condemn law

Hamas said passage of the legislation “reflects the bloody nature of the occupation [by Israel] and its policy based on killing and terrorism”.

The Palestinian Authority also denounced the law, calling its adoption a “dangerous escalation”.

In a post on X, the Palestinian foreign ministry in Ramallah said: “Israel has no sovereignty over Palestinian land”, adding: “This law once again reveals the nature of the Israeli colonial system, which seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover”.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee condemned the bill’s passage.

In a statement, she said she was troubled by what she described as its discriminatory character.

“The right to life is a fundamental human right and Ireland is consistently and strongly opposed to the use of the death penalty in all cases and in all circumstances,” she said.

“I am particularly concerned about the de facto discriminatory nature of the bill as it relates to Palestinians.

“Ireland urges the Israeli government and parliament to not implement this law.”

European states say bill is discriminatory

The vote marked the latest step by members of Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition to alarm some of Israel’s European allies, which have also criticised violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israeli media said Mr Netanyahu had earlier sought to dilute parts of the proposal in an effort to limit an international backlash.

The original version of the bill had required a death sentence for non-Israeli citizens in the West Bank convicted of deadly terrorist attacks.

The amended version approved by parliament allows for life imprisonment instead.

Even before lawmakers cast their votes, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy and the UK criticised the measure, saying it carried a “de facto discriminatory” effect for Palestinians.

A group of United Nations experts said the bill contained “vague and overbroad definitions of terrorist”, raising the possibility that the death penalty could be imposed for “conduct that is not genuinely terrorist” in nature.

Mr Ben-Gvir said capital punishment would deter would-be attackers contemplating an assault like the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack, which killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 72,000 people since October 2023.

Amnesty International, which monitors countries that use capital punishment, said there “is no evidence that the death penalty is any more effective in reducing crime than life imprisonment”.

Death penalty outlawed for all crimes in 113 countries

Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954. Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Nazi Holocaust, remains the only person executed in Israel following a civilian trial, in 1962.

Military courts kept the authority to impose death sentences, though they have not used it to date.

According to Amnesty International, 54 countries still allow the death penalty, among them democracies such as the United States and Japan. The group says the global direction has been toward abolition, with 113 countries banning it for all crimes.

The Israeli rights group B’Tselem says military courts in the West Bank, where Palestinians are prosecuted for alleged offences, have a 96% conviction rate and a record of extracting confessions through torture.

Mr Ben-Gvir, who is known for displaying in his living room a portrait of a Jewish gunman who killed 29 Palestinian worshippers in a West Bank mosque, has overseen sweeping changes in Israeli prisons that have triggered widespread allegations of torture, starvation and abuse of Palestinian detainees.

Israel denies systematic abuse of prisoners in its jails.

Abdallah Al Zughari, head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, said Palestinians held in Israeli prisons had already faced “slow killing practices” that have led to the deaths of more than 100 prisoners since 7 October 2023.

The death penalty law will pose a “major threat to the lives of detainees,” Mr Zughari said.