Palestinians held a vigil on Tuesday in Gaza City against Israel's newly-approved law allowing for the execution of Palestinian inmates accused of "terror" offences.
The demonstration, which took place in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in the west of the city, was organised by relatives of prisoners, former detainees, and representatives from prisoner rights groups.
Protesters held photographs of Palestinians currently held by Israel, and chanted slogans decrying the "fascist" law, which only applies to Palestinians, and not to Jewish Israelis.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem delivered a speech at the vigil, saying: "This law poses a real threat to the lives of prisoners and violates all international and humanitarian conventions."
Qassem added that Israel has executed hundreds of Palestinians over the decades through torture and neglect, but was now showing "complete disregard" for international laws and conventions by enshrining the policy within law.
The Hamas official urged the UN, the ICRC, and rights groups to demand urgent protection for Palestinian prisoners.
Released prisoner Majdi Abed also spoke at the vigil.
"We never expected the Arab and Muslim nations to reach such a level of betrayal that the decision to execute prisoners would pass amid such appalling silence. When the decision was issued, we felt a deep sense of anguish and pain," Abed said.
Wissam Salem, the wife of a prisoner, spoke of the anguish of the prisoners' families, who live in a state of profound uncertainty and anxiety.
"Every night I go to sleep terrified of any news regarding my husband's life or safety," she said. "They want to end a human life with a single word. This is not law, and it is not justice. It is unjust to deprive a mother of her son, a wife of her husband, and children of their security. Tell the prisoners that we stand with them and we will not abandon them." Israel kills more Gazans in 'ceasefire' On Tuesday, two Palestinians were killed, and several others were wounded by an Israeli airstrike targeting a gathering of people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
A day earlier, Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people in the Gaza Strip , local health officials said.
Medics said three people were killed and two others wounded when an Israeli plane fired a missile at a group of Palestinians near the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City.
Later on Monday, another Israeli airstrike killed one person and wounded six others outside a local community kitchen in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics said. More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Since a ceasefire came into force in October, Israel has killed more than 700 Palestinians in Gaza.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said on Monday that the continued attacks "reveal a clear decision by the occupation to sabotage and undermine the agreement despite all the mediators' efforts". He urged "a clear and explicit stance from the mediators, the guarantor states, and the UN Security Council, clarifying their position on the agreement, given the occupation's complete disregard for it and its deliberate sabotage of all its aspects".