Israel approves law on public trials and death penalty for October 7 accused

WorldPolitics
13 May 2026 • 10:05 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Israel approves law on public trials and death penalty for October 7 accused

  • Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has voted 93-0 to allow special tribunals to livestream proceedings and impose the death penalty on Gaza Palestinians accused of "crimes against humanity".
  • This legislation extends existing laws that mandate capital punishment for Palestinians, but not Israelis, convicted of murdering Israelis in nationalist acts of terror, using a legal framework last applied to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.
  • The new tribunals will try individuals alleged to have participated in the October 7, 2023 attacks, with thousands of Gazans currently held as "unlawful combatants" and many more imprisoned in the West Bank.
  • The UK government has expressed "deep concern" over the death penalty legislation, describing it as "de facto discriminatory" and warning it could undermine Israel's democratic principles.
  • This move is part of a broader legislative package, including efforts to register West Bank land as exclusively Israeli and a bill to abolish the Oslo Accords, which aimed to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

IN FULL