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Palestinian prisoner organizations called for repeal of an Israeli law imposing the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners in a statement issued on October 10 2026 to coincide with the World Day Against the Death Penalty. The organizations which encompass Addameer the Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club described detention facilities as arenas for systematic physical and psychological torture starvation and denial of medical treatment. They reported that at least 92 identified Palestinian prisoners and detainees have died in custody since October 2023 terming this period the bloodiest in the history of the prisoners movement. Additional unidentified Gaza detainees have been executed in the field or died under torture in prisons and camps according to the statement published by WAFA.
The prisoner organizations urged the international community to move beyond verbal condemnations and undertake concrete legal and political measures to protect detainees establish the fate of missing prisoners and ensure accountability for violations. They demanded immediate unconditional release of all Palestinian prisoners and prisoners as well as transparent independent inquiries into all cases of torture ill-treatment medical neglect and fatalities. The statement further called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to gain unrestricted access to detention sites and for regular communication between detainees and their families and lawyers.
Israeli legislators approved the death penalty bill in March 2026 with provisions for mandatory execution in cases classified as terrorism-related offenses and no possibility of pardon. The Palestinian Coalition Against Torture has characterized the legislation as institutionalizing extrajudicial executions and has pressed the International Criminal Court to investigate it as a potential crime against humanity. Al Jazeera reporting indicated that the law drew immediate condemnation from Hamas and other factions which warned of its threat to prisoner lives and its disregard for international humanitarian standards.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights previously determined that the law is incompatible with international obligations on several levels according to statements compiled by multiple outlets. Prisoner rights groups had sent an urgent letter to European Union countries in March 2026 seeking suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and targeted sanctions to uphold human rights. The Palestinian Authority has labeled the measure a dangerous shift toward legalizing genocide that places Israel in direct conflict with international law.
Human rights assessments have recorded a sharp increase in prisoner deaths amid the conflict with torture and deliberate medical neglect identified as leading causes. The organizations stressed that transforming the death penalty into a tool aimed at Palestinians alongside ongoing abuses necessitates urgent international intervention that includes use of universal jurisdiction for prosecutions. Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative described the legislation as evidence of a fascist shift within the Israeli system amid perceived international inaction.
The prisoner organizations reiterated that continued detention under these conditions forms part of a wider array of policies violating fundamental rights. They called on the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty to take a strong stance against the measure as a form of cruel inhuman punishment. International bodies including the United Nations have been asked to activate special rapporteurs on summary executions and torture to examine the law and its implementation.
