JERUSALEM — A bill to establish a special military tribunal in Jerusalem to try Palestinians accused of involvement in the October 7, 2023 attacks entered its final readings in the Knesset. The legislation is co-sponsored by Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionism Party and Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beytenu, and is backed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

The proposed law would create a dedicated military headquarters and court in Jerusalem to prosecute Palestinians seized by Israeli forces on or around October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attacks, and about 240 people were seized as captives, according to official statistics. Israel's subsequent war on Gaza killed at least 72,500 Palestinians.

The bill explicitly permits mass trials that deviate from standard rules of evidence, legal procedures and detention, including broad judicial discretion to admit evidence obtained under coercive conditions that may amount to torture or ill-treatment. It grants judges full authority to issue the death penalty against Palestinians implicated in the October 7 attacks and mandates filming and public broadcasting of opening hearings, verdicts and sentencing on a dedicated website.

The legislation seeks to apply existing criminal codes for treason, assisting an enemy in wartime and the 1950 Law for Preventing and Punishing the Crime of Genocide within a new legal framework with lower standards of due process. The minister of defense would be granted overarching authority over the law's implementation, requiring only periodic written reports to a Knesset committee.

Muna Haddad, an attorney with Adalah, submitted a formal objection to the bill. "Lawmakers have clearly and explicitly stated their expectation that the death penalty will be applied," Haddad said. She also addressed international legal standards. "Any death sentence imposed in the absence of strict fair trial guarantees constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life and is absolutely prohibited under international law," she said.

Israel has operated two parallel legal systems in the occupied territories: civil law for Israeli settlers and military law for Palestinians. Under civil law, Israel strictly limits the death penalty and has carried out executions twice in its history. A separate death penalty law was passed in March 2026. The Shin Bet publicly supported the potential use of the death penalty for October 7 attackers as an act of deterrence.

Amnesty International described Israel's legislative manoeuvres regarding the death penalty for Palestinians as a discriminatory tool, and Human Rights Watch described them as entrenching a system of apartheid.