Israeli occupation approves the establishment of a special court for the October 7 detainees on charges of "genocide."

On Sunday, the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill submitted by Knesset Member Simcha Rothman, which stipulates the establishment of a special court to try participants in the October 7 events on charges of "genocide."

The proposal calls for the formation of a new judicial body to hear cases related to "genocide" charges. The body, comprised of judges and representatives from the ministries of justice, security, and foreign affairs, will be prohibited from being tried through the regular judicial process, in a refusal to link the October 7 attack to criminal offenses.

Knesset Constitution Committee Chairman Rothman said, "The legal tools currently in place are inappropriate and insufficient to deal with an event of this magnitude," adding, "Anyone who attempts to deal with these events within the framework of ordinary criminal law is destroying the legal system."

He added, "So far, not a single indictment has been filed, which demonstrates the need for a radical change in the legal structure."

This comes as part of the government coalition's efforts to enact a set of laws related to the arrest and prosecution of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who have been detained since the "Al-Aqsa Flood" attack on October 7 and during the Israeli ground maneuver.

These laws aim to change the arrest, investigation, and trial systems set out in the current detention law, and to enact a new set of laws due to the "difficulty of collecting and documenting evidence due to the situation on the ground."

The Knesset plenum approved a bill submitted by Rotman to amend the Public Defense Law, which prohibits the Public Defense Unit in the Ministry of Justice from representing Gazan detainees. The bill also aims to prevent international lawyers from representing detainees. Baharav-Miara and the Elham Defense Unit opposed the amendment.