The Be'er Sheva District Court has, for the first time, ruled to increase the level of punishment for Palestinians who are caught staying in Israel without a permit, according to Kan Reshet Bet. According to the report, the court also gives weight to the fact that it is in the southern region of Israel, where the Hamas invasion took place. Until now, the courts would issue lenient sentences and suspended prison terms, although some prison terms were actually imposed. After the start of the war, the state attorney's office began asking the courts to order between one month and six months of actual imprisonment, but the Peace Courts did not respond, so the attorney's office filed appeals. Now, as mentioned, following several appeals to the district court in Be'er Sheva, a court has ruled that the punishment must be made more severe, even more than the prosecutor's request, and set the penalty between two months of actual imprisonment and seven months of actual imprisonment. Related articles: Terrorist who kidnapped Bibas family eliminated in Gaza Hamas key terror financing facilitator eliminated in Gaza Palestinian Authority: IDF takeover of Morag Corridor 'criminal' Gaza: IDF forces eliminate terrorists, destroy rocket launchers The new verdict reads: "Since October 7, 2023, our country has been in a severe war, under a cruel and horrific terrorist attack, which has exceeded our words to describe the evil, brutality, and unbelievable scale of the atrocities. The surprise attack on the State of Israel, including on IDF bases, outposts, and civilian towns, included acts of massacre and murder, which obliged the State of Israel to declare a state of war and deal with the special state of emergency that was imposed on it, including against the background of massive and continuous rocket fire of thousands of rockets towards the State of Israel, and in particular on the southern region." "In this state of affairs, it is necessary to state that the values protected within the framework of the crime of entering Israel illegally, the security of the State of Israel and its residents, and the right of the state to determine who will enter its borders, take on a dimension of extreme importance, and hence the violation of these protected values requires a much more severe punishment, for the purpose of providing adequate punishments for this injury. These things take on a new meaning from the fact that we are talking about a state of war in which many terrorists have infiltrated Israel, and hence, the need to protect the borders and improve security against those who enter illegally outweighs the situation that preceded the start of the terrorist attack. This conclusion is even more fitting in our case, At the time of the intrusion, it was within the boundaries of the southern district, and therefore, an aggravation or re-examination of the penalties is required also in the context of this district," the verdict reads. The judges further write, "We believe that the appropriate punitive response for the purpose of the much-needed protection at this time of the mentioned values, whose importance has increased several times due to the aforementioned circumstances, should be a stricter and more severe punitive response than the one the attorney is petitioning for."
