Palestinian PM condemns Israel's initial approval of death penalty bill for attackers

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Monday condemned an Israeli committee's vote to advance a death penalty law for Palestinians carrying out deadly attacks against Israeli citizens.

"This law is fascist and criminal and will not discourage us from continuing to demand our right, freedom, and dignity to live in an independent, sovereign, contiguous, viable state with Jerusalem as its capital," Ishtaye said at the weekly meeting of the Palestinian Authority cabinet.

Israel's ministerial committee for legislation has voted to advance the bill which has been advanced by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's far-right Otzma Yehudit party, for a preliminary reading in the Knesset, or parliament.

This was despite the attorney general's opposition and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party was allegedly seeking to delay it.

In Gaza, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) warned against the danger of what it called "the racist law."

According to official Palestinian statistics, Israel detains about 4,780 Palestinians in 23 prisons, including dozens who have served more than 20 years.