People salute as vehicle, carrying the body of the last Israeli hostage remaining in Gaza, Ran Gvili, arrives the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute prior to the funeral ceremony in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images
- Israel has passed a law that could deliver capital punishment for Palestinians who participated in the 7 October 2023 attacks.
- The bill received support from coalition and opposition lawmakers, with 93 voting in favour.
- The special court will try attackers captured during or after the Hamas-led onslaught who have been held in detention.
Israel’s parliament has passed a law establishing a special military tribunal to try Palestinian militants accused of taking part in Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attacks, under which the death penalty could be handed down.
The bill received support from coalition and opposition lawmakers, with 93 voting in favour late on Monday and none of the parliament’s 120 members voting against.
The special court will try attackers captured during or after the Hamas-led onslaught who have been held in detention ever since.
It will also try those suspected of holding or abusing hostages in Gaza.
According to Israeli media, around 400 suspects are expected to stand trial before the court.
READ | Israel using ‘water as a weapon’ in Gaza, 90% of infrastructure damaged or destroyed - MSF
Hamas’ surprise attack resulted in the deaths of 1 221 people on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data, making it the deadliest day in Israel’s history.
Militants also took 251 people hostage on that day, including 44 who were already dead.
Protesters hold photos of hostages as they march during a rally calling for the Israeli government to sign a deal to release the hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has devastated the Gaza Strip and killed more than 72 000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
The special military court, which will sit in Jerusalem, will have the jurisdiction to try the accused under any law, including offences under the Prevention of Genocide Law, the Penal Code, and the Counter-Terrorism Law, according to the legislation.
The public will have access to the hearings, with some portions also broadcast.
Under the tribunal, the accused could be convicted of crimes for which the death penalty exists in Israel.
The last person to be executed in Israel was the Nazi Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann in 1962.
Relatives and friends of people killed on 7 October cry during the National ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the attacks at Park hayarkon in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Alexi J Rosenfeld/Getty Images
The new legislation is separate from a law passed in March that would make the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank who are found guilty of carrying out deadly attacks deemed “acts of terrorism” by an Israeli military court.
That law, which drew widespread international criticism, does not apply retroactively and has not yet been applied.
Monday’s legislation specifies that any person suspected, accused, or convicted of offences committed during the 7 October attacks would not be included in prisoner-release deals.
Rights groups have raised concerns about the possibility of “show trials”.
“Survivors of the October 7 attacks and victims’ families deserve justice, not vengeance in the form of show trials and mass executions based on confessions extracted through torture,” Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture, said in a statement.
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