Gaza - Saba:
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners' Defense and Human Rights (PCHR) considered the Israeli Knesset's approval of a law that allows the detention of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip without charge or a specific period of detention, and preventing them from meeting with lawyers, to constitute a full-fledged legal and humanitarian crime.
It falls under the category of "unlawful combatants," an attempt to legitimize arbitrary detention outside the framework of the law.
The center explained in a press release that the approval of the law represents a dangerous escalation in the systematic violations against prisoners and comes within the context of an ongoing Israeli policy to strip detainees of their most basic legal and humanitarian rights, in flagrant violation of international conventions, including the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.
The center added in its statement that this law comes at a time when prisoners in the Gaza Strip are facing extremely dire humanitarian conditions and are subjected to ongoing physical and psychological torture, amounting to slow killing, by the prison administration and intelligence officers, amidst disturbing international silence.
The Center called on parliaments and international legal and human rights bodies to take a clear position rejecting this law, and to work immediately to halt it and hold the enemy accountable for its violations. It warned that passing this legislation would set a dangerous precedent for the erosion of justice and the perpetuation of fascist repressive practices against Palestinian prisoners.
The Center stated that the passage of the law in its second and third readings in the Knesset is part of Israel's system of apartheid and political and legal arrogance, which treats Palestinians as objects of criminalization and collective punishment without the slightest fair trial.
On July 24, 2025, the Israeli Knesset approved, by a majority of 30 to six, an extension of the "Unlawful Combatant Law," which allows Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to be detained without charge or trial and prevents them from meeting with their lawyers for extended periods.
The law classifies those detained under this legislation as "unlawful combatants," a category not protected by international law or the Geneva Conventions.
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