The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has warned that Israel is entering a ‘highly dangerous phase’ of punitive escalation against Palestinian detainees, as it prepares to implement a death penalty law targeting prisoners.
Israel is fast-tracking the law amid ‘international complicity and a complete failure to protect thousands of prisoners’, PPS said in a statement on Monday.
The group described the legislation as reflecting an unprecedented level of brutality, calling it the ‘peak of the ongoing genocide’ against Palestinian detainees.
It warned that the law would turn Israeli prisons into arenas for torture, starvation, and the systematic killing of prisoners through slow-death policies.
PPS added that these measures aim to institutionalise retaliation and mark a historic escalation in repression within Israeli prisons.
The advocacy group further said that the reported measures amount to the ‘peak of the ongoing genocide against Palestinian prisoners’.
Israel’s Channel 13 earlier reported that the Israeli occupation authorities have, in recent days, begun special preparations to enforce the law.
These preparations reportedly include the construction of a dedicated execution complex within the Israeli prison system, the establishment of detailed procedures, and the training of selected prison staff, alongside consultations on practices used by other countries for the death penalty.
The report said the new execution site will be referred to as the ‘Israeli Green Corridor’ and that executions would be carried out by hanging, with three guards simultaneously pressing an activation button.
Under the proposed framework, executions would take place within 90 days of a final judicial ruling.
Israeli media reported that the law would initially be applied to prisoners accused of belonging to elite units of Hamas resistance movement.
The scope of the law would later expand to include Palestinian prisoners convicted of carrying out attacks in the occupied West Bank.
Last week, at least a dozen United Nations experts called on Israel to withdraw the proposed death penalty legislation, warning that the Israeli military legal system in the occupied Palestinian territories violates international law and fundamental human rights standards.
The PPS added that the proposed law cannot be viewed in isolation, framing it as part of a broader campaign of genocide against Palestinians.
The group stressed that Israeli prisons have effectively become an extension of the regime’s wider system of collective punishment.
- A Palestinian prisoners’ rights group says Israeli authorities have sharply increased the use of administrative detention against Palestinians, describing it as a deliberate policy aimed at breaking detainees while in prison.
Director of the Palestine Centre for Prisoner Studies, Riyad al-Ashqar, said on Sunday that the implementation of administrative detention has dramatically surged since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023.
The researcher noted that the number of individuals held in administrative detention increased from around 1,300 before October 7, 2023, to more than 3,500 by February 2026, marking an astounding rise of 270%.
Ashqar emphasised that this is not an accidental increase; rather, it is a calculated approach aimed at keeping numerous Palestinian leaders in prison. The strategy disrupts their lives, futures and participation in society.
He described how numerous abductees, once freed, are quickly apprehended again and subjected to new administrative orders that can keep them in custody for long durations, occasionally spanning years.
A large number of Palestinian abductees have been taken into custody through a process referred to as administrative detention, which operates in a quasi-judicial manner.
Initially, these individuals are held in jail for six months, but their detention can be extended repeatedly for an unspecified duration without any formal charges or a trial.
Ashqar pointed out that administrative detention acts as a type of collective punishment.
Since 1967, Israel has granted upwards of 75,000 orders for administrative detention, with more than fifty per cent being renewals.
Following Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, there has been a significant increase in the number of administrative detainees, which has now risen to around 35% of the total Palestinian abductees held illegally in Israeli facilities.
The situation surrounding Palestinian abductees in Israeli custody raises serious concerns due to inadequate hygiene standards.
Furthermore, these individuals endure persistent torture, abuse, and systemic oppression, according to verified testimonies from ex-abductees provided to international rights groups.
In response to their unfair imprisonment, Palestinian prisoners have consistently participated in extensive hunger strikes to express their dissent.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says that at least 72,032 people, mostly women and children, have been killed and 171,661 others wounded since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.
Since the ceasefire was announced last October, Israel has killed 587 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,550 others amid continued violations of the agreement.
Guterres slams Israel’s settlement expansion
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has expressed grave concern and condemned Israel’s recent decision to authorise measures facilitating settlement expansion and widening its administrative and enforcement control over the occupied West Bank.
Guterres made the remarks on Monday following similar condemnations from regional countries that slammed Israel’s move as a step in the direction of annexing the occupied territory.
The moves, approved by Israel’s security cabinet on February 8, 2026, include easing restrictions on Jewish settlers purchasing land in the territory, lifting confidentiality on land registry records, and expanding Israeli enforcement powers in Areas A and B which is traditionally under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction per the Oslo Accords.
Palestinian officials describe these steps as accelerating de facto annexation, violating international law, and undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.
Guterres, through his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, reiterated that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds, along with their associated regime and infrastructure, have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law as well as relevant United Nations resolutions.
He called on Israel to reverse the measures, warning that the current trajectory, including this decision, is eroding the viability of a negotiated two-state solution in line with Security Council resolutions and international law.
The European Union has condemned the decision as another step in the wrong direction, further complicating peace efforts.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly denounced Israel’s actions as part of its ongoing colonial policy, labelling them a war crime and a grave breach of international law and UN resolutions.
Several Muslim-majority countries – including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar, and Pakistan – issued a joint statement condemning the moves in the strongest terms.
They described the decision as an illegal attempt to impose Israeli sovereignty over occupied Palestinian territory, undermining regional stability and the two-state vision.
Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have also denounced the expansionist policy, holding the United States and countries that have normalised relations with Israel responsible for enabling or failing to prevent the consequences of such decisions.
These developments follow a pattern of accelerated settlement activity, including recent approvals for thousands of housing units (such as in the E1 area) and the establishment of new settlements, which have drawn repeated international criticism.
The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, statement aligns with broader Palestinian reactions, including from the Palestinian Authority and Fatah, which have described the moves as ‘criminal’ and aimed at entrenching annexation while violating international law and the Oslo Accords.
Human rights groups warn that public land registries could facilitate settler approaches to Palestinian landowners for purchases or pressure, accelerating settlement expansion and complicating future Palestinian statehood claims.
The decisions come amid ongoing tensions in the occupied territories, where Israeli settlement activity has continued to rise despite international condemnation.