JERUSALEM: Israel`s top court on Thursday examined petitions seeking to force the government to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to Hamas`s October 7, 2023 raid.

Israel`s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed over 72,500 Palestinians, according to figures from Gaza`s health ministry.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long refused to establish such a commission, the likes of which Israel has commonly set up in the past to investigate major state-level failings.

According to polls, a large number of Israelis across the political spectrum support the establishment of such a body to determine who is responsible for the authorities` failure to prevent the deadliest-ever attack on Israel.

The decision to create a state commission rests with the government, but its members must be appointed by the president of the supreme court.

Netanyahu`s ruling coalition, one of the most rightwing in the country`s history, has accused the court of political bias.

`This honourable court has no authority to compel the government,` the government`s lawyer Michael Rabello said in front of the supreme court judges.

`There is no precedent... not anywhere in the world, not even in India or in any other democratic state, of a court ordering the government to establish a commission of inquiry,` he added.

Netanyahu is resisting the establishment of a state commission of inquiry until the multi-front war it has launched after the October 7, 2023 attack is over.

His government has tried to counteract public calls with a bill introduced by Netanyahu`s Likud party to create a `special state commission of inquiry`.-AFP