(PIC)
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Defense said on Tuesday that remarks by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir regarding the possible implementation of a death penalty law for Palestinian prisoners indicate a premeditated intent to target as many detainees as possible under legal cover.
In a statement, the center noted that Ben-Gvir’s claim that the law could apply to around 80% of Palestinian prisoners, particularly those from the West Bank, along with the inclusion of so-called “elite units,” reflects a clear direction toward widening the scope of targeting.
It added that Israeli authorities continue to classify large numbers of detainees from the Gaza Strip, estimated at around 1,450, as “elite fighters,” in an effort to establish a legal basis for applying the law to them.
The center stressed that these statements undermine previous claims that the law would be limited or difficult to enforce, instead demonstrating that it was designed as a mechanism to carry out executions inside prisons.
It further emphasized that this cannot be viewed as ordinary legislation but rather as a retaliatory measure aimed at the physical elimination of prisoners within a systematic policy.
