Israeli Lawmakers Approve Special Tribunal for 2023 Hamas Attack Suspects

Israeli lawmakers approved a bill on Monday setting up a special tribunal that would try and have the authority to sentence to death Palestinians convicted of taking part in the 2023 Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza. The measure passed 93-0 in the 120-seat Knesset, with the remaining 27 lawmakers absent or abstaining from the vote.

The legislation reflects support among those present for holding accountable those responsible for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. Defendants would be able to appeal their sentences, but the appeals would be heard by a separate special appeals court rather than the regular appeals courts.

The bill empowers a panel of judges to hand down the death penalty by a majority vote and requires the trials to be conducted in a livestreamed Jerusalem courtroom. The proceedings have drawn comparisons to the 1962 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, which was broadcast live on television.

Eichmann was executed by hanging, the last time the death penalty was carried out in Israel. Capital punishment remains on the books for acts of genocide, espionage during wartime and certain terror offenses.

Rights groups said the measure makes the death penalty too easy to impose while doing away with procedures safeguarding the right to a fair trial. Opponents of the bill also said that livestreaming the proceedings before guilt is established risks turning the trials into a spectacle.

They have raised questions about the reliability of the evidence that may be presented, saying it could have been extracted by harsh interrogation methods. Several Israeli rights groups stated that while justice for the victims of October 7 is a legitimate and urgent imperative, any accountability must be pursued through a process which includes rather than abandons the principles of justice.

7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages. Israel’s ensuing offensive on Gaza has killed over 72,628 Palestinians, including at least 846 killed since a ceasefire took hold last October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children.

The figures are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israeli forces also killed hundreds of militants in battles in the coastal enclave and took an unknown number of suspects into Israeli custody where they now await trial.

The bill is separate from a law passed in March that approved the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. That law applies to future cases and is not retroactive so it could not apply to the October 2023 suspects. According to the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, the country still holds about 1,300 Palestinians from Gaza without charge in its detention facilities.

At least 7,000 Palestinians from Gaza had been held in Israeli custody since October 2023, and 5,000 of them were later released. The 1,300 number does not include those held on suspicion of attacking Israel on Oct. 7 or involvement in holding the hostages.