Gaza Herald – The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy has condemned the approval by an Israeli army minister for the execution of Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank, calling it a “dangerous escalation” and a shift toward legitimizing unlawful killings under official cover.
The group said the reported decision reflects a broader pattern of field executions and politically sanctioned attacks, warning that it signals an attempt to institutionalize practices based on revenge, racism, and collective punishment.
According to the statement, such measures constitute a “flagrant violation” of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, which guarantee the protection of detainees, their right to life, fair trial rights, and protection from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
The organization argued that the move cannot be separated from Israel’s current political environment, which is increasingly driven by extremist rhetoric and electoral competition, where Palestinian prisoners’ rights are being used as a tool for political mobilization and incitement.
It further stated that the minister involved, who is directly linked to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, should be subject to international legal accountability rather than empowered to introduce policies that could authorize executions of detainees.
The statement stressed that framing such actions as “security measures” is misleading, arguing instead that they function as retaliatory policies aimed at intimidation, dismantling resistance, and entrenching collective punishment.
It also warned that any move toward formalizing execution policies would represent a serious escalation, potentially opening the door to expanded extrajudicial killings and further erosion of accountability within Israeli military and security structures.
The group called on the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and international human rights bodies to urgently intervene, reject the reported policy, and work to prevent its implementation, emphasizing that failure to act would deepen impunity and further endanger Palestinian detainees.
The statement concluded that Palestinian detainees are not a political bargaining tool, warning that continued international silence could enable further abuses and transform detention facilities into spaces of unchecked attack and political retribution.
