HUNDREDS took to the streets of the occupied West Bank today in protest against a new Israeli law to use the death penalty against Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

The new law, approved by the Israeli parliament on Monday, has been widely slammed by the international community and rights groups as discriminatory and inhumane.

The law makes the death penalty, by hanging, the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis. 

It also gives Israeli courts the option of imposing the death penalty on Israeli citizens convicted on similar charges, which legal experts say confines those who can be sentenced to death to Palestinian citizens of Israel and excludes Jewish citizens.

It will not apply retroactively to any prisoners Israel currently holds.

After the final 62-48 vote in favour, far-right lawmakers erupted into cheers and stood up in jubilation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remained in his seat, did not immediately react or speak.

Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who spearheaded the push for the legislation, brandished a bottle in celebration. 

But Palestinians took to the streets across the occupied territories, including Ramallah, Tubas, Nablus and Jenin in the north and Hebron in the south.

Families of prisoners, political groups, civil society organisations, trade unions and women’s groups were among those taking part in the protests.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported protesters staged a sit-in in the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in el-Bireh.

Wafa said during the sit-in participants displayed photographs of dozens of prisoners who had died in custody.

More than 9,500 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons with rights groups saying many face torture, starvation and medical neglect.

Rights group Amnesty International called on the Israelis to repeal the new law, which it described as “a public display of cruelty, discrimination and utter contempt for human rights.”

Amnesty said that the new law “allows for state-sanctioned executions.”

A spokesperson for the European Union described the legislation as “very concerning.”

German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said his country could “not endorse” the new law and views it with “great concern.“

The German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul had on Sunday signed on to a joint statement with his counterparts from Australia, Britain, France and Italy urging Israel to abandon plans to pass the law, calling it “de facto discriminatory” and saying the death penalty was unethical and had no “deterring effect.”