Special military court established with authority to seek death penalty in cases linked to Oct. 7

The Israeli parliament adopted a law overnight Monday to Tuesday establishing a special military court authorized to impose the death penalty to try Palestinians accused of participating in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The new court will sit in Jerusalem to try crimes committed by fighters from the Islamist movement or other Palestinian groups during the assault, which was marked by numerous massacres and during the detention of hostages in the Gaza Strip.

The law was approved by all 93 lawmakers present during the vote (out of the 120 in the Knesset), with no abstentions, reflecting support far beyond the narrow majority held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads one of Israel's most right-wing governments ever.

The charges cover a broad range: murders, rapes, kidnappings, looting...

According to Israeli media, around 400 Palestinian detainees are expected to appear before this court.

Under the law, the Court will be able to sentence them to death — a punishment that has not been carried out in Israel since the execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

Sari Bashi, director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, strongly condemned the new law as a drift toward what she called “show-trial justice.”

The right to justice for survivors and families of victims, she said, should not turn into “revenge in the form of mass executions based on confessions extracted under torture.”

The Knesset chose “revenge over justice,” Bashi said.

This new legislation differs from the "death penalty for terrorists" law passed in March, which is not retroactive and risks being invalidated by the Israeli Supreme Court after it received challenges calling the text “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory” as it is tailored to apply only to Palestinians.

The Oct. 7 attack left 1,221 dead on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count.

Of the 207 hostages captured alive that day, 41 died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip. The last 20 living hostages were freed in October 2025 during the fragile cease-fire that took effect that month under U.S. pressure.

At least 72,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel since the start of its offensive against the Gaza Strip, an action described as genocide by many experts, including a commission mandated by the United Nations.