Israel Enacts Death Penalty Law for Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank

Israel’s death penalty law for Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank came into effect on Sunday night, after an Israeli army commander signed a military order applying it to the occupied territory.

The law, passed on March 30, applies to those who cause the death of an Israeli citizen “with the aim of denying the existence of the State of Israel,” meaning it effectively applies only to Palestinians. This clause intentionally excludes Israeli settlers in the West Bank, whose acts of violence would be considered committed in the name of Israel, rather than against it.

The new law also allows for military courts to impose a death sentence by majority vote, rather than a unanimous decision, and removes the ability to pardon or commute sentences issued by military courts. It makes the use of the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians “whose attacks resulted in the death of a victim.”

After the law’s approval on Sunday evening, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that Palestinian “terrorists… will not sit in prison under comfortable conditions, wait for deals or dream of release — they will pay the heaviest price.”

“In order to implement this law,” legal expert Diana Buttu explained to Truthout, “Israel needed to change its criminal code, and add a new provision to its criminal code. Previously, there were only two instances where you could impose the death penalty — treason, and genocide. Israel added a new provision to the criminal code, and that is, if the person kills with the intent of denying the state of Israel.”

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians released a statement condemning the law, saying:

This law consolidates more clearly than ever before the extent of Israel’s apartheid judicial system, whereby Palestinians can be sentenced to death and Israelis convicted of the same crime cannot. It is an entrenchment of Israel’s genocidal policies that are prevalent not just in Gaza, but across the occupied Palestinian territory. Once again, Israel’s unchecked impunity after years of genocide has allowed it to continue to violate international norms.

“This law only applies to military courts, which only tries West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens,” the statement continues. “This means the law will be used to kill Palestinians, but Israelis who commit terrorist acts would not be held to the same legal standards, and would not face the death penalty.”

Though the law has been framed as a response to October 7, 2023, versions of the bill were introduced in the Knesset — Israel’s parliament — as far back as 2004. By November 2025, when advanced in the Knesset, it had been introduced 22 times.

In November, when the bill was advanced, the independent Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq warned that, if passed, it “would formalise the systematic, state-sanctioned killing of Palestinian detainees and further entrench Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid regime while advancing its genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.”

On May 11, Israel passed a similar law aiming to impose the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners from Gaza. The law will aim to retroactively charge Palestinians from Gaza detained by Israel — in particular, those accused of involvement in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. That law passed in a vote of 93-0 in the Knesset, and was jointly sponsored by government and opposition parties.

In what can only be called a case of dark irony, the legislation accuses Palestinian prisoners from Gaza of “genocide” against Israel. Further, the law permits evidence gathered through coercive conditions that amount to torture, and publicized trials that critics say would “transform[sic] proceedings into show trials.”

“These two new laws are a reflection of how Israeli society is intent on revenge,” Buttu told Truthout. “Israel wants to criminalize any resistance to occupation, and is trying to crush Palestinian resistance and Palestinian society itself.”