Israel approves tribunal law for October 7 Hamas trials
At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel, the majority of them civilians.
Israel’s parliament has approved a law creating a special military tribunal to prosecute hundreds of Palestinian militants involved in the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, a move supporters say is intended to deliver justice and help the country confront its trauma.
The assault, led by fighters from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, marked Israel’s deadliest single day and was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
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At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel, the majority of them civilians.
Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza that killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and reduced large parts of the territory to ruins.
Under the new law, the special military court will sit in Jerusalem before a panel of three judges. It will also be able to try others captured later in Gaza who are suspected of taking part in the attack or of holding or abusing Israeli hostages.
At least 1,200 people were killed in the attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023
The measure passed with backing from 93 of the Knesset’s 120 members, an unusual display of broad political unity in Israel.
The militants broke through the Gaza border and swept through southern Israeli villages, army bases, roads and a music festival.
Along with the killings, the fighters seized 251 hostages and took them back to Gaza.
No trial date
Lawmakers from both the governing coalition and the opposition drafted the bill, which is designed to ensure all attackers are prosecuted under existing Israeli criminal law for what it defines as crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The proceedings will be open to the public, and major hearings are to be broadcast live.
Defendants will appear in person only for key hearings and attend the rest by video, while surviving victims will be permitted to attend in person under the new law.
Ya’ara Mordecai, an international law expert at Yale Law School, said the legislation raised due process concerns because of the military court framework, and warned that atrocity cases can risk becoming politicised or symbolic “show trials”.
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Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky, one of the bill’s authors, said the law guarantees a fair and lawful trial.
“They will be sentenced by Israel’s judges, not by the street or by what we all feel,” Ms Malinovsky said before the vote.
“At the end of the day, what makes us great is our spirit, our resilience, ability to cope and withstand this immense pain.”
Option of capital punishment
Israel’s penal code allows capital punishment for some of the offences the militants are expected to face.
If imposed, a death sentence would automatically be appealed on the defendant’s behalf, according to the new law.
The last execution carried out in Israel was that of Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Nazi Holocaust, who was hanged in 1962 after Israeli agents captured him in Argentina.
Military courts in the occupied West Bank have the authority to sentence Palestinian convicts to death, but they have never done so.
A separate law approved by Israel in March, which made death by hanging the default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks, drew criticism at home and abroad and is expected to be struck down by the Supreme Court.
Hamas condemns new law
Hazem Qassem, Hamas’s spokesperson in Gaza, said the new law “serves as a cover for the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.”
The International Criminal Court is investigating Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war and has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders who have all since been killed by Israel.
Israel is also contesting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
It has rejected the allegations as politically motivated and argued that its war is against Hamas, not the Palestinian people.
