Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered the resumption of visits by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Palestinian prisoners held in prisons in the country.
Jnews.az reports that this ruling overturns an October 2025 order by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, which had banned the organization’s representatives from accessing prisons. Previously, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) had justified the ban by citing concerns that Red Cross staff might pass information to terrorists.
In her ruling, Justice Daphne Barak-Erez noted that the government failed to provide a legal basis for the ban, despite multiple opportunities to do so during the judicial process. According to her, the plaintiffs, by contrast, supported their claims with arguments based on both Israeli and international law.
The petition to the Supreme Court was filed in February 2024 by a coalition of four human rights organizations: the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, HaMoked, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, and Gisha.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sharply criticized the verdict, calling it a «direct blow to Israel’s security deterrent.» He attributed the decline in terrorist attacks—from 231 in 2024 to 54 in 2025, according to Shin Bet data—to the tightening of prison conditions.
In an attempt to block the court’s decision, Ben-Gvir’s party initiated a bill to ban ICRC access to prisons. However, on June 30, the initiative failed to gain support in the Knesset. Ultra-Orthodox coalition partners refused to vote for the document due to disagreements over the issue of exempting yeshiva students from military service.
Source: jns.org
