Overview
- The Knesset approved the measure in a 93–0 vote, creating special military tribunals with power to impose the death penalty and to livestream hearings, using the legal framework last applied in the 1962 Adolf Eichmann case.
- The court will try Palestinians accused over the October 7 attacks and related hostage abuses, with Israeli media reporting roughly 400 expected defendants and thousands more Palestinians now in detention.
- UN human rights chief Volker Türk urged Israel to overturn the law, warning it lowers fair‑trial safeguards, risks mass trials, and institutionalizes discrimination against Palestinians.
- Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva defended the law as a lawful response to mass atrocities and said it neither creates new crimes nor imposes a mandatory death sentence.
- Lawmakers backed a clause that would bar those convicted under the tribunal from future prisoner‑exchange releases, while Hamas condemned the move and warned of grave consequences.