The commander of the Israeli occupation army's Central Command, Avi Bluth, approved a new military order on Sunday evening that legalizes the application of the death penalty against Palestinian prisoners in the occupied West Bank. This military move gives the green light to military courts to issue death sentences against Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis, under the pretext of 'denying the existence of the State of Israel'.
Media sources reported that this military order grants military judges broad powers, with a legal loophole that allows for the replacement of the death penalty with life imprisonment in cases described as 'exceptional'. This measure aims to institutionalize executions within the military judicial system that has managed Palestinian affairs in the occupied territories for decades.
Last March, the Israeli Knesset paved the way for this step by approving the 'Execution of Terrorists' law with direct support from Benjamin Netanyahu, despite international human rights warnings. At the time, the law was supported by 62 members against 48, a move that human rights organizations considered an entrenchment of the apartheid system and blatant legal discrimination.
Legal interpretation of the military order's text indicates that it is specifically designed to target Palestinians, as the evidentiary conditions related to ideological motives make it difficult to apply to settlers. According to legal sources, this discrimination makes it almost impossible to prosecute perpetrators of attacks by Jewish extremists under the same law.
In a related context, reports clarified that this legislation does not cover 'elite' elements of the Hamas movement who participated in the events of October 7, as a separate legal path and military court have been allocated for them. This multiplicity of laws reflects the occupation authorities' desire to create a complex punitive system that ensures the maximum degree of abuse for prisoners of all classifications.
For his part, Defense Minister Israel Katz pushed for this military amendment to overcome legal obstacles that prevented the direct application of Knesset civil laws in the West Bank. Katz stated that the goal is to ensure that no 'comfortable conditions' are provided for those he describes as terrorists inside prisons, emphasizing the need to activate maximum deterrent tools.
Legal bodies within the Knesset warned that imposing these legislations on West Bank residents who do not hold Israeli citizenship represents a grave violation of international law. The legal advisor to the National Security Committee considered that this approach breaks an Israeli policy followed for decades that avoided the direct application of Knesset laws in the occupied territories.
On the human rights front, data indicates that there are more than 9,500 Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons, suffering from tragic detention conditions including systematic torture and deprivation of treatment. Among these prisoners are about 350 children and 73 women, all facing the danger of new laws that legalize cold-blooded killing under judicial cover.
Statistics from the Prisoners' Affairs Authority indicate that there are at least 117 Palestinian prisoners who immediately meet the criteria of the new death penalty law. This number raises serious concerns about the start of a wave of field and legal executions that could lead to an unprecedented explosion of the situation in the occupied territories.
This legal escalation comes at a time when the occupation continues its widespread aggression on the Gaza Strip, where the number of victims has exceeded 72,000 martyrs and 172,000 injured. Observers believe that the activation of the death penalty law is part of a comprehensive war waged by the far-right government to liquidate the Palestinian issue and intimidate the resistance in both the West Bank and Gaza.
Those who kill Jews will not receive comfortable conditions in prisons, and we will work to apply deterrent penalties against them.
شارك برأيك
Israeli Army Activates Military Order to Execute Palestinian Prisoners in West Bank