Israeli Knesset Establishes Special Tribunal and Authorizes Death Penalty for October 7 Perpetrators

Israeli lawmakers on May 12, 2026 voted to establish a special tribunal to try the perpetrators of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, simultaneously authorizing the use of the death penalty for those convicted. The legislation represents the first time Israel has authorized capital punishment for a specific crime category since the execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962. While Israel technically retains the death penalty in its legal code, it has not been applied in over six decades. The special tribunal will operate under emergency provisions and is designed to prosecute Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters who participated in the October 7 massacre that killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages. The vote passed alongside ongoing coalition tensions over the ultra-Orthodox draft exemption bill. Human rights organizations expressed concern about due process standards in a tribunal established specifically to achieve capital punishment. The legislation drew international attention as the first significant Israeli domestic legal action targeting Oct 7 perpetrators who have not yet been captured, tried, or convicted — the majority of those implicated were killed by Israeli forces during and after the attack.