RAMALLAH, May 13, 2026 (WAFA) – Palestinian prisoners’ institutions said on Wednesday that the Israeli Knesset’s approval of a bill to establish an exceptional court for Gaza detainees accused by the Israeli authorities of participating in the events of October 7, alongside provisions for imposing the death penalty, represents a dangerous new step as a broader system of colonial legislation.

The statement, issued by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, affirmed that this law constitutes a flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, including the right to life, fair trial guarantees, and protections against torture and inhumane treatment.

The organizations added that this law comes amid continued testimonies from prisoners documenting systematic torture, starvation, medical negligence, harsh solitary confinement, sexual assault, and policies of slow killing systematically practiced within Israeli prisons and detention centers.

The testimonies of Gaza detainees in particular constitute living and direct evidence of the ongoing crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners and detainees that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity. They further said that some detainees were coerced under torture into giving false confessions.  

They demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all Palestinian political prisoners, an end to the policy of arbitrary administrative detention, which constitutes a grave violation of the principles of fair trial, and the dismantling of the Israeli military court system, which is used as a tool of oppression and colonial control.

The organizations called for opening independent and transparent international investigations into all crimes of torture and death within Israeli prisons and detention centers. 

Y.S