Knesset moves to approve special court to issue death sentences against October 7 participants

In a remarkable legal and political development, the Knesset intends to approve a new bill in the coming weeks aimed at prosecuting all those who participated in the October 7, 2023 attack. The project seeks to establish a special court for this purpose, defining the actions of Hamas (elite) fighters as 'crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes'.

According to the draft bill, indictments against detainees linked to the events will be presented before a special military court established under the 'British Emergency Regulations of 1945'. The three-member court panel consists of a presiding judge who is a civilian judge required to have previously worked in a central court, and two officers qualified to be central court judges.

The main objective of the court is to issue death sentences against detainees participating in the attack. The bill stipulated that an appeal against the death sentence is submitted 'automatically' even if the defendant does not request it, and the execution of the sentence does not require the approval of the Chief of Staff. The project indicated that trials will be public, broadcast via a special website, documented with audio and video, and preserved in the state archive.

The bill carries the number 5020 for the year 2025, and was submitted by MK Simcha Rothman from the Religious Zionism party and Yulia Malinovsky from the Yisrael Beiteinu party. The project has currently reached an advanced stage, as it is scheduled to be discussed before the Law Committee on February 18, 2026, in preparation for its referral for second and third readings to become an enforceable law.

This move dates back to a discussion that began on November 1, 2023, when legal experts called for the event to be considered a war and an organized act, not an ordinary criminal offense. The legal concept of the court is based on controversial principles, including 'collective responsibility' by convicting everyone who participated or assisted without proving their individual act, relaxing rules of evidence on the pretext of difficulty in collecting them, and expanding charges to include 'genocide' according to Israeli law of 1950.

The main objective of the court is to issue death sentences against detainees participating in the attack, with appeals being automatic and without the need for the Chief of Staff's approval.