Lawmakers in Israel are expected to take a final vote on Monday on a highly controversial bill to revive the death penalty for people convicted of terrorism.

The bill was introduced by the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, led by Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Opponents see it as racist because it would effectively lead to the executions of only Palestinians.

Rights organisations are calling for the initiative to be stopped.

The exact time of the vote was unclear. If the bill is approved, Palestinians convicted by military courts in the occupied territories of murder as an act of terrorism would face a mandatory death sentence.

In civilian courts in Israel, meanwhile, a person convicted of a terrorist murder to destroy the State of Israel could be sentenced either to death or to life imprisonment under the proposed law.

Mr Ben-Gvir described it as the most important bill of recent years.

The Knesset’s national security committee recently approved the draft for its second and third readings.

The committee chairman, Zvika Fogel, said the bill marked an “important step towards restoring the State of Israel’s deterrence.”

Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954.

Israeli law still allowed the death penalty to be imposed in certain cases, such as against Nazi criminals or for treason in wartime.

However, the execution of German Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962 was the last time a death sentence handed down by a regular court in Israel was actually carried out.

(dpa/NAN)