Alex Ritson

And so a lot of politicians were talking about this as being appropriately historic.

And they're saying that the rules are different from normal criminal trials because of the scale of the cases and the import of the cases.

And the rules have been adjusted to allow sort of fast tracking, really, because you have numbers are not totally clear.

300 to 400 Gazans reportedly held by Israel as criminal defendants accused of involvement in the 7th of October attacks.

And there are, I should say, another 1,200 or so held as what are termed unlawful combatants without charge, mostly from Gaza as well.

And advocates of this new law say it's going to meet international standards.

Human rights groups are disputing that.

Yeah, not a single lawmaker in the Knesset voted against this.

Is that view reflected among the general population?

So, I mean, for decades, interestingly, Israel has been a de facto abolitionist state.

But that has changed.

Back in March, the death penalty for terrorist law passed.

That was aimed at Palestinians who were convicted of serious terrorism offences.

It doesn't apply retroactively.

So that's why this legislation was needed specifically to deal with the events of 2023.

but the 7th of October attacks were the deadliest ever day in Israel.

And recent polls have really indicated that there is growing support for the death penalty, particularly among Jewish Israelis, not the 20% or so of the population who are Arab Israelis.

But this really, you know, when there have been polls that have taken place recently, the support was highest, according to what they showed, when it came to carrying out the death penalty on the Hamas operatives who led the 7th of October attacks.

victims of the attacks, the bereaved families.

They've been cautiously supportive about this, but they, like most Israelis, according to the polls as well, they want to see an independent commission of inquiry too into the 7th October attacks.