The Israeli occupation’s Knesset has approved, in its first reading, a law allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, with 39 votes in favor and 16 against.

Last week, the so-called Knesset Security Committee approved the proposal to bring the bill permitting the execution of prisoners to a vote before the Knesset’s general assembly. This development comes amid pressure from the extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who threatened that his party, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), would not support coalition bills unless the death penalty law was brought to a vote within the next three weeks.

According to Israeli sources, the law would first be implemented against detainees from the Gaza Strip and surrounding areas who have been classified as “elite fighters,” and who have been held in military prisons since then without trial.