Islamic states condemn Israel over death penalty law

RIYADH

Palestinian demonstrators march through the Gaza City on April 1, 2026, during a protest against the Israeli parliament's approval.(AFP)

Islamic nations including Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Indonesia lambasted Thursday the approval of a death penalty bill for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying the move threatens "regional stability".

The statement was released by foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates.

"This legislation constitutes a dangerous escalation, particularly given its discriminatory application against Palestinian prisoners, and stressed that such measures risk further exacerbating tensions and undermining regional stability," the joint statement read.

Under the law passed by Israel's parliament late on Monday, Palestinians convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as "acts of terrorism" will face the death penalty.

The law has been criticised by the United Nations and European Union, while the United States came out in support of "Israel's sovereign right to determine its own laws".

Almost all of the countries which signed the statement enforce the death penalty at home, including Saudi Arabia which executed 356 people alone in 2025.

Under the new law, Palestinians in the West Bank convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as "terrorism" will face the death penalty as a default sentence.

Because Palestinians in the territory are automatically tried in Israeli military courts, the measure effectively creates a separate and harsher legal track.

In Israeli civilian courts, the law allows for either death or life imprisonment for those convicted of killing with intent to harm the state.

Israel has applied the death penalty only twice: in 1948, shortly after the state's founding, against a military captain accused of high treason, and then in 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was hanged.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence there has soared since the Gaza war.