Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced on Thursday that he is advancing legislation in the Knesset to establish a special criminal tribunal to try Gazans accused of carrying out massacres and atrocities on October 7, 2023, in a process that could result in death sentences being handed down to those convicted.

The tribunal will be able to try the dozens of Gazans captured in Israel between October 7 and October 14, 2023, suspected of being Hamas operatives for crimes listed under Israel’s 1950 Law for the Prevention of Genocide, which is based on the 1948 Genocide Convention, which can carry a death sentence.

In a joint statement to the press made together with Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman, and committee member MK Yulia Malinovsky of the Yisrael Beytenu opposition party, Levin stated that advancement of the bill was now possible following the return of all the living hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and held in Gaza since then.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR