Israeli Supreme Court Orders Government to Repeal Ban on ICRC Visits to Palestinian Detainees

Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously rejected a government policy that barred representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, and ordered the policy repealed.

“Israel’s Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a government policy banning representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons”

Al Jazeera

The ruling was delivered on Wednesday and said the government’s restrictions violated both Israeli and international law, requiring an immediate repeal of the ban.

Al Jazeera

The decision came after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, in which more than 1,100 people were killed and more than 240 were taken captive, and after all visits to prisoners were halted and information about them was not shared.

Al Jazeera reported that it was the first time in 50 years that Israel prevented Red Cross visits, and it linked the halt to the period after the attack when Israeli authorities accused Hamas of failing to secure access to the captives in Gaza.

The ICRC welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision and said it was ready to resume its visits, emphasizing that access to detainees and private meetings are obligations under international law.

ACRI, which filed the petition, said the ban remained in place even after a “ceasefire” was agreed last October, and Al Jazeera quoted the group saying, “For the first time in nearly three years, the over 9,000 Palestinian security prisoners being held in Israeli prisons and military detention centers will receive Red Cross visits.”

The ICRC said it was continuing dialogue with Israeli authorities to resume its work in detention “as soon as possible,” and the court’s reasoning centered on the state’s failure to provide a legal foundation for annulling all visits.

Al-Jazeera Net

The Straits Times reported that the Supreme Court ruled the Gaza war-era ban lacked adequate basis in Israeli law or in Israel’s binding international humanitarian obligations, and it said the decision enabled independent verification of prisoners’ treatment.

In contrast, the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sharply criticized the ruling, calling it “a disgraceful decision by disconnected judges, who sit in an ivory tower and continue to care for terrorists while Israeli citizens pay the price of terror.”

The Jerusalem Post described the High Court of Justice as ruling the policy unlawful and canceled, and it said the petition challenged both the ban on Red Cross visits and the state’s refusal to provide information about detainees held in Israel Prison Service (IPS) and IDF facilities.

The ruling threatens to restore a monitoring channel that had been shut since October 2023, when the ICRC said it had not been able to reach detainees held in Israeli prisons, and it stressed the need to be informed of the fate and whereabouts of all detainees.

“The Israeli Supreme Court cancels the decision banning Red Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners, while the committee welcomed the move and called for resuming the visits promptly”

Al-Ghad.tv

In Gaza and beyond, the ICRC’s access decision intersects with ongoing detention concerns described in the sources, including Al Jazeera’s account of a United Nations report citing torture, rape, gang rape, forced nudity and “cavity searches conducted without apparent security justification perpetrated” by Israeli armed forces and security forces.

The National reported that the court’s latest ruling effectively overturned the ban on Red Cross visits, leaving more than 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli detention with “no way to report on their health and the conditions of their incarceration” before the change.

The National also said the court’s reasoning shifted after the return of all hostages from the Gaza Strip, while the ICRC remained barred from visiting detainees even after the Israeli army recovered the body of the last remaining hostage in January.

The Straits Times added that the ruling covers those held in Israeli prisons and military detention, and it said ACRI will monitor enforcement of the ruling on Red Cross visits.