Two Palestinian human rights organizations on Sunday condemned the Israeli Knesset’s committee approval of a bill allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners, calling it “unprecedented brutality” by the occupation.

This was stated in a joint statement by the Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Affairs Commission (official) and the Palestinian Prisoners Club (civil), following the National Security Committee’s approval of the bill, paving the way for a vote in the Knesset plenum, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The statement said, “The approval of the so-called National Security Committee in the Knesset on the bill is no longer surprising amid the unprecedented brutality practiced by the occupation system.”

It added that the occupation has not only killed dozens of prisoners and detainees since the Israeli genocide war in Gaza but now seeks to entrench the crime of execution by enacting a special law.

According to Israeli law, bills are introduced in the Knesset plenum in stages called “readings,” where each reading is accepted or rejected by a vote of Knesset members. Discussions also take place in Knesset committees that prepare the bill for the next legislative stages, according to the official Knesset website.

The two institutions affirmed that “this law is added to a repressive legislative system that has targeted various aspects of Palestinian life for decades, representing an additional step to entrench the crime and attempt to legitimize it.”

The statement also warned that the occupation state acts as if it is above the law and beyond accountability, as clearly demonstrated by the genocide war that revealed the international community’s failure and its systematic complicity with the colonial and killing system.

Earlier Sunday, Wafa agency said the bill is part of agreements signed to form the government coalition led by Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu (Prime Minister) and Otmar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power party, in late 2022.

In March 2023, the Knesset preliminarily approved a bill allowing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners “convicted of killing Israelis,” submitted by Ben-Gvir and supported by Netanyahu.

The bill stipulates “imposing the death penalty on anyone who intentionally or through negligence causes the death of an Israeli citizen motivated by racism or hatred and to harm Israel.”

The total number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons is about 11,100 as of early September, excluding those held in military camps, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

Among the total detainees are 53 female prisoners, including two from Gaza, about 400 children, 3,577 administrative detainees (with secret files and without trial), and 2,662 detainees from Gaza classified as “illegal fighters.”