Australia Rejects Israel's Death Penalty Law for Palestinian Inmates
Wong delivered the remarks during a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday morning, according to a local broadcaster.
The statement follows Australia's co-signing of a joint declaration on Sunday alongside Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, in which the five nations voiced alarm over the "de facto discriminatory character of the bill."
"The death penalty is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterring effect," the joint statement read.
The legislation was passed by Israel's Knesset on Monday, enshrining the death penalty as the default sentence for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted of carrying out lethal attacks against Israelis.
More than 9,300 Palestinians — among them 350 children and 66 women — are currently held in Israeli detention facilities, according to figures compiled by prisoners' rights organizations and the Israeli Prison Service.
Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups have documented widespread abuse within those facilities, alleging torture, deliberate starvation, and systemic medical neglect — conditions that have already contributed to the deaths of dozens of detainees.
Since October 2023, Israel has progressively intensified its crackdown on Palestinian prisoners, a period that coincides with its military campaign in the Gaza Strip — backed by Washington — which has killed more than 72,000 people and left 172,000 others wounded.
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