Israel is sharing evidence collected during fighting in Gaza with prosecutors in Europe who are building cases against Palestinian activists accused of supporting Hamas. Al Jazeera reported this on June 16, 2026. This creates a new situation: evidence gathered during wartime is now being used in peacetime courts — and legal experts worry it may not meet the protections that normally protect people on trial.

Here is what is happening: Israeli forces collect documents, emails, recordings, financial records, and other material while operating in Gaza. They then share this material with European law enforcement officials and prosecutors. European courts are then asked to use this evidence against Palestinian activists who prosecutors say supported Hamas. (The EU, UK, and other countries legally classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.)

What European Courts Are Doing

Germany and Denmark are among the countries where these prosecutions are moving forward. Research published by a terrorism center at West Point in October 2025 found that Hamas had made plans for possible attacks in Europe — which is why European security officials have been willing to accept information about Hamas from other sources. But this creates a problem: information gathered under wartime rules is now being used in civilian courts, where the rules are different.

One major concern is something called "chain of custody." This simply means: can you prove the evidence has not been changed, lost, or mishandled? When evidence is collected in a war zone as complicated as Gaza, it can be hard to prove it is trustworthy enough for a court to accept. Defense lawyers will definitely challenge where the evidence came from and whether it was selected fairly. European courts have not yet shown they have clear rules for handling these arguments.

What Happened in the UK

At the same time, the UK has taken a separate step. On June 15, 2026, the British Court of Appeal agreed with the government's decision to label Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. Four people from this group now face being sentenced as terrorists for a raid on a factory in 2024 — something that was treated as property damage when it happened, but is now being called terrorism, according to Al Jazeera.

These UK cases do not use Israeli evidence. But they are part of the same pattern: European countries are using terrorism laws for activities — protest, giving money, direct action — that look more like activism than armed combat. Once a group is labeled terrorist, the law immediately changes what it means to be part of it or support it.

Who Decides What Evidence Is Fair?

There is a deeper problem here. When a country at war shares evidence with foreign courts, it controls what gets shown and what stays hidden. Information that could help a defendant — something that proves them innocent, or background information that matters — may never reach the courtroom if the country sharing the evidence gets to decide what counts as secret.

Defense lawyers and human rights groups in Europe are going to push back on this. The question of whether someone on trial can fairly challenge evidence that a foreign military put together is something European courts have not yet clearly answered.

The October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas killed more than 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians. That is the political backdrop for all of this. It is why European governments have moved to strengthen their terrorism laws and why European judges are willing to accept Israeli intelligence. There is a real tension here between security — the need to stop attacks — and fairness — the protections that people have the right to expect in a trial.