RAMALLAH, March 31, 2026 (WAFA) – The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned the approval by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, of a law imposing the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners.

The OIC described the legislation as a dangerous escalation and unprecedented step that effectively licenses the crime of execution against Palestinians, and a blatant challenge to international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In a statement, the OIC warned of the grave crimes to which thousands of Palestinian prisoners are subjected in Israeli jails, including torture, ill-treatment, humiliation, terror, rape, starvation, systematic deprivation of the most basic human rights, and direct targeting of their lives.

It also affirmed that such measures are an extension of the ongoing genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

The OIC called upon the international community, including the United Nations, international human rights organizations, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, to take all necessary measures against the Israeli Knesset, activate accountability mechanisms against Israel, the occupying power, and exert pressure to repeal this illegal law, protect the rights of Palestinian prisoners, and work towards their release.

Y.S