Palestinian Resistance factions condemned on Tuesday the Israeli Knesset’s approval in a first reading of a bill allowing the execution of Palestinian detainees, describing it as a "fascist crime" and yet another attempt by the occupation to codify its machinery of killing. The factions said the move lays bare what Palestinians have long asserted: that "Israel’s" system of domination relies not only on land theft and military aggression, but also on the systematic destruction of Palestinian life through its prison apparatus.

In their joint statement, the factions stressed that the bill effectively grants the occupation a "green light" to intensify slow-kill practices already widespread across Israeli prisons, namely torture, starvation, humiliation, and deliberate medical neglect. They warned that "Israel’s" military courts, long denounced as political tools of control, are now being openly transformed into "legalized instruments of killing," and that global silence amounts to direct complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people.

Hamas: A law to institutionalize mass killing

Hamas said the preliminary approval represents "an extension of the occupation government’s racist approach and an attempt to legalize organized mass killing," insisting that no legislation can be separated from the brutal reality faced by thousands of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been forcibly disappeared, held without charge, or tortured since October 2023.

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Islamic Jihad: A deliberate escalation

The Islamic Jihad movement, on its part, described the bill as "a dangerous criminal escalation" that fits squarely within "Israel’s" ongoing campaign of genocide and forced displacement. The movement pointed to repeated UN warnings confirming large-scale violations, calling the law proof that "Israel" seeks to eliminate Palestinians not only in Gaza and the West Bank, but also inside its prisons.

PFLP: A war crime in broad daylight

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) condemned the bill as "a full-fledged war crime" that strips away the last pretense of due process. The group said the move demonstrates the occupation’s determination to crush Palestinian resistance by targeting detainees, many of them children, minors, and civilians abducted from their homes, with state-sanctioned execution.

Torture, starvation, and systematic abuse in Israeli prisons

The Palestinian factions’ statement comes amid an ongoing genocide in Gaza, where "Israel" continues to violate the ceasefire every day with renewed attacks, targeted assassinations, and a suffocating blockade that prevents the entry of life-saving aid.

Inside Israeli detention facilities, conditions have deteriorated to unprecedented levels. International human rights organizations, medical associations, and UN experts have documented patterns of abuse that Palestinians have long described as part of an entrenched system of domination:

• Torture and beatings: Detainees report being tied in stress positions, beaten until unconscious, electroshocked, blindfolded for days, and forced to kneel for long hours.
• Starvation and dehydration: Prisoners describe deliberate withholding of food and water as collective punishment.
• Medical neglect: Insulin, heart medications, and basic antibiotics are routinely denied, leading to preventable deaths behind bars.
• Sexual violence: Testimonies from both men and women detail threats of rape, forced nudity, and sexualized assault during interrogations.
• Enforced disappearance: Families often go weeks or months without information on the whereabouts of loved ones taken by Israeli forces.
• Reports of organ removal: Palestinian civil society organizations and medical teams have raised urgent concerns about the condition of bodies returned by "Israel", urging an independent international forensic investigation.

These abuses are regularly dismissed by Israeli authorities, even as testimonies, medical reports, and sworn statements paint a consistent, harrowing picture of deliberate cruelty designed to break prisoners physically and psychologically.

The Knesset plenary on Monday approved the execution bill in its first reading. Introduced by far-right Limor Son Har-Melech of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, the proposal passed with 36 votes to 15. It has now moved to the relevant parliamentary committee for its second and third readings.

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