Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has passed a law authorizing the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, The New York Times reports.

The legislation clears the way for courts to impose capital punishment in cases where a Palestinian defendant is convicted of an attack that caused deaths. The law marks a significant shift in Israeli penal policy, which has not carried out a judicial execution since 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was hanged.

What does the new law change?

Under the legislation, hanging becomes an available sentence for Palestinians convicted of carrying out deadly attacks. The measure targets a specific category of defendant defined by the offense rather than by a general class of crimes, a distinction that has already drawn scrutiny from human rights organizations and legal commentators.

The Knesset approved the measure following a prolonged political campaign by nationalist lawmakers who have pushed for capital punishment in terrorism cases for years. Proponents argued the existing sentencing framework, under which convicted attackers typically receive life imprisonment, did not deliver sufficient deterrence.

How does the law fit Israel's existing legal framework?

Israel has retained the death penalty on its statute books for certain offenses, including genocide and crimes against humanity, but courts have not applied it in the six decades since Eichmann's execution. Military courts in the occupied West Bank have also held theoretical authority to impose death sentences, though no execution has been carried out there in decades.

The new law alters that landscape by making hanging an explicit statutory penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks. Its passage raises questions about how sentencing courts will apply the provision and whether defendants sentenced under it will mount challenges before Israel's Supreme Court.

What are the practical consequences for practitioners?

Defense lawyers handling terrorism-related prosecutions in Israel and the West Bank will now need to prepare for capital sentencing proceedings in cases involving fatalities. Prosecutors, for their part, must decide when to seek the death penalty — a charging and sentencing decision that carries significant political and legal weight. International human rights bodies and foreign governments that oppose capital punishment are likely to monitor the first cases brought under the statute closely, and appeals on constitutional and international law grounds appear probable before any execution could proceed.

The law's passage also intensifies the debate over differential treatment of Palestinian and Jewish defendants in the Israeli legal system, a long-running controversy that the legislation is certain to amplify as it moves from the statute book into the courtroom.