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Reuters

Israel's parliament has approved a law that would make the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks.

Critics have described the new law as discriminatory and several European nations warn it risks undermining "democratic principles".

The new law passed its third and final reading in the Knesset by 62 votes to 48 on Monday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voting in favour.

The bill stipulates that Palestinians convicted in Israeli military courts of carrying out deadly attacks deemed to be "acts of terrorism" would be executed by hanging within 90 days, with a possible postponement of up to 180 days.

In theory, Jewish Israelis could also be executed under the law - but in practice this almost certainly would not happen, as the death penalty could only be carried out where the intention of the attack was to "negate the existence of the state of Israel".

The legislation was pushed hard by the far-right, with the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir its driving force. After the vote, he posted on X: "We made history!!! We promised. We delivered."

A member of Ben-Gvir's party, Limor Son-Har-Melech, who survived an attack by Palestinian gunmen in which her husband was killed, argued that the law was necessary, citing the example of how one of her husband's killers was later released and went on to take part in the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

During the debate in the Knesset, she said: "For years, we endured a cruel cycle of terror, imprisonment, release in reckless deals, and the return of these human monsters to murder Jews again."

But Yair Golan, the leader of opposition Democrats party, criticised the legislation and said it would lead to international sanctions.

"The death penalty law for terrorists is an unnecessary piece of legislation designed to get Ben-Gvir more likes," he said. "It does not contribute one ounce to Israel's security."

On the eve of the vote, the UK, France, Germany and Italy expressed their "deep concern", saying that the bill risked "undermining Israel's commitments with regard to democratic principles".

The Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, condemned the adoption of the law, saying it "seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover".

And Hamas, which controls Gaza, said in a statement on Monday evening that the approval of the bill "threatens the lives" of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and called on the international community to "ensure the protection of our prisoners".

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has already petitioned the country's Supreme Court against the law.

"The law is unconstitutional, discriminatory by design and - for West Bank Palestinians - enacted without legal authority," it said in a statement.

The Supreme Court will now have to consider whether to hear the challenge to the bill.

Israel has only executed two people in its history - one of them the infamous Nazi official Adolf Eichmann, who played an important role in perpetrating the Holocaust.

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