Israeli committee approves bill for execution of Palestinian prisoners

Knesset's National Security Committee approved a bill that would allow the execution of Palestinian prisoners, local media reported. The committee referred the bill to the Knesset General Assembly for discussion and voting in the upcoming legislative session, reports said. 

Times of Israel reported that the legislation stipulates that courts will be able to impose the death penalty on those who have "committed a nationalistically motivated murder" of a citizen of Israel. It would not apply to an Israeli who killed a Palestinian.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir thanked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his support of the bill, adding that "judges should not be allowed to express an opinion on this law".

On Friday, Ben Gvir posted a video of himself standing over a row of Palestinian prisoners lying prone with their hands tied, in which he calls for the “death penalty for terrorists”.

In footage shared on his personal Telegram channel, Ben Gvir speaks to the camera while pointing at a dozen detainees face down in front of an Israeli flag.

“These guys, the Nukhba who came to kill children, women, our babies. Look at them today,” the far-right minister says, referring to the special forces unit of Hamas's military wing.

“But there's still something that must be done: death penalty for the terrorists.”