Israeli authorities on Monday charged three Hamas terrorists captured in the Gaza Strip, marking the first time an indictment was filed against Palestinians from the territory since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023.
The accused, Mahmoud Qawasme, Ali Hamdallah and Amar Asaida, were among the 1,027 terrorists Israel released in 2011 as part of the Shalit prisoner deal, the Israel Police said.
“Following their deportation to Gaza, the three suspects joined Hamas’s ‘West Bank Headquarters’ and served in a number of senior positions,” according to the statement, which noted that the “West Bank Headquarters” helped execute attacks against Israeli security forces and civilians “for many years.”
Prosecutors collected hundreds of testimonies confirming that the three men were involved in numerous terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria, some 120 of which they directly ordered and directed, the Israel Police said.
Qawasme, Hamdallah and Asaida were arrested during the Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital in March.
They are being charged in military court with at least seven counts, including membership in a terrorist group, causing deaths, kidnappings, terror funding and weapons trafficking, police said.
Israel Police Judea and Samaria District chief Cmdr. Moshe Pinchi said the investigation was among thousands that his organization had opened since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion.
“For the first time since the start of the war, indictments were filed in an Israeli court today against Hamas terrorists for their intention to carry out terror attacks,” Pinchi said, calling it a “significant achievement.”
“These probes constitute a national challenge, bringing justice on behalf of victims of terrorist acts,” he continued.
Hundreds of Hamas terrorists were captured in Israel during the Oct. 7 invasion, and additional terrorists are being taken prisoner as the IDF continues its ground offensive against the terrorist group in Gaza.
Israeli lawmakers intended to pass legislation to form and empower a special tribunal “to present to the world the goals, roots, funders and activities of the murderous terror group,” Kan reported in November 2023.
Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the Office of the State Attorney, the Court Administration and the Public Defense Office all believe that the normal judicial procedure, via the regular court system, is not suitable to try Oct. 7 terrorists, according to the report.
Some 6,000 terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah, as well as unaffiliated Palestinian “civilians,” infiltrated the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023. Security forces killed around a thousand of the invaders.