Israel’s Knesset Approves Military Court Laws For Hamas “Elite” Operatives, Including Death Penalty

Israel’s Knesset approved two laws to establish a military court for Hamas “elite” operatives, with the bill allowing courts to impose the death penalty and with final approval expected by Monday evening, according to Anadolu Ajansı.

The laws were introduced in the first reading in mid-January by MK Simcha Rotman of the Religious Zionist Party and Julia Malinovsky of the Israel Beiteinu Party, and Anadolu Ajansı said Israel’s justification is that Palestinians it arrested in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack are members of the Hamas “elite” and number in the hundreds.

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In Jerusalem, the Knesset approved the law in second and third readings on Monday evening, and the official Israeli public broadcaster said it became an enforceable law, according to التلفزيون العربي.

Yedioth Ahronoth, as quoted by التلفزيون العربي, said the Knesset approved the law by a 93-member majority with no opponents or abstentions, and the newspaper framed it as “unprecedented trials, the largest and most important in Israel since the Eichmann trial.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin said the law would grant full authority to issue death sentences and that “We are talking about hundreds of defendants, and the army will be responsible for leading the legal proceedings,” as quoted by Anadolu Ajansı.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged Israel to abolish the newly established special military court, saying: "This law will surely entrench one-sided justice and discrimination against Palestinians" and adding that it “cannot be in anyone's best interests and is incompatible with international human rights law,” according to Euronews.

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Euronews also reported Türk warning that the law allows “further erosion of fair-trial guarantees by introducing mass trials,” and that “Mandatory death penalty is horrific and carries the risk of an irreversible miscarriage of justice for Palestinians convicted under this law.”

Anadolu Ajansı said most accused would participate in hearings via video link from inside prison, and would also appear in person in court for five types of sessions: responding to the indictment, testifying, hearing the verdict, testifying at the time of sentencing, and hearing the pronouncement of the sentence.

The Knesset’s new court is tied to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, where Anadolu Ajansı said Israel began a genocidal war in Gaza that lasted two years and left more than 72,000 dead and more than 172,000 wounded.

Anadolu Ajansı also said the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, and it added that the International Court of Justice is considering a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

In parallel, Euronews reported that Türk said the court’s structure and powers would undermine due process, including concerns about evidence obtained under coercion and the risk that mandatory death penalty could amount to a war crime.

Euronews further stated that the court is scheduled to hear exclusively the cases of Palestinian detainees suspected of involvement in Hamas’s attack, and that it “will not have jurisdiction over the criminal liability of others” or over crimes alleged to have been committed by Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territory at that time or since then.