ISLAMABAD: United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Francesca Albanese, has condemned Israel’s move to advance a law permitting the execution of Palestinian detainees — including minors — calling it part of the ongoing “violence of ethnic cleansing.”

Reacting to the development, Albanese wrote on X: “In Palestine there is NO ceasefire, NO peace, only destruction and the violence of ethnic cleansing. Watching world leaders play ‘let’s pretend’ with the light-heartedness of 4th graders playing Lego is sickening. We will all pay for their complicity & the insecurity it is sowing.”

According to a report by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the Israeli Knesset’s Security Committee approved the bill on Monday, giving the green light for its advancement to the Knesset plenum for further debate and voting in the next legislative stages. A final vote is expected next Wednesday. Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally endorsed the bill’s progression.

The bill, long championed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is part of the coalition agreements between Netanyahu’s Likud party and Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party. It authorizes the death penalty for Palestinians accused of killing Israelis “out of racist or hateful motives and to harm Israel.”

WAFA noted that the legislation has been revived multiple times over the years, most recently gaining preliminary approval in March 2023. Its renewed momentum now reflects the government’s intensified policies toward Palestinians amid the ongoing war in Gaza and increased violence in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier, ReliefWeb, a humanitarian portal managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reported that the Knesset’s National Security Committee had initially endorsed the draft bill for first reading on Sep. 28. The bill allows judges to impose death sentences by a simple majority rather than unanimous decision — a change that rights groups say paves the way for politically motivated executions.

Since October 2023, thousands of Palestinians have been arbitrarily detained across Gaza and the West Bank, with humanitarian monitors documenting torture, inhumane conditions, and numerous deaths in custody.

Albanese said the bill represents a “dangerous normalization of state-sanctioned killing” and underscores global failure to confront what she described as Israel’s “genocidal policies” against the Palestinian people.

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UN rights expert condemns Israeli bill allowing execution of Palestinian hostages, including children