The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has passed a law authorising the death penalty for individuals linked to the 7 October attacks, according to a BBC report. The same legislation opens the way for public trials of those connected to the attacks.

The law targets people implicated in the 7 October 2023 attacks, in which Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and took roughly 250 others hostage. Under the newly enacted provisions, courts may impose capital punishment on those convicted in connection with the attacks, and proceedings against such defendants may be held in public.

Israel has historically retained the death penalty in statute but has applied it only once — in the 1962 execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. The new legislation represents a significant shift, creating an explicit legal basis for capital sentences for those linked to 7 October and for conducting their trials openly rather than behind closed doors.

The measure carries substantial practical consequences for practitioners. Defence counsel and prosecutors alike will now confront capital proceedings in a jurisdiction with virtually no modern precedent of executions, raising questions about sentencing standards, appellate review and evidentiary procedure in death-eligible cases. The authorisation of public trials adds a further layer of complexity: counsel will need to manage open proceedings in high-profile terrorism cases, where publicity, classified material and witness protection concerns can collide. International observers and human rights organisations have long opposed capital punishment, and foreign governments and bodies engaged with Israel on legal cooperation may scrutinise how the new provisions are applied in practice.

The legislation arrives amid ongoing proceedings against detainees taken following the 7 October attacks, and it will shape the legal framework governing those cases going forward.