JERUSALEM — The Israeli High Court unanimously ruled that a ban on International Committee of the Red Cross visits to security prisoners held in Israel Prison Service and IDF facilities is unlawful. The court ordered the immediate cancellation of the detention visit prohibition.
The visit ban had been implemented following the October 7, 2023, conflict and remained in effect for more than two years. Red Cross access to security prisoners was a standard component of Israeli detention policy for decades prior to October 2023.
The ruling was authored by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez. The state argued that Red Cross visits should remain suspended until all hostage remains are returned from Gaza due to security concerns regarding information transfer.
The court rejected the hostage justification, determining that the state's position lacked a concrete and updated explanation. Justice Barak-Erez concluded that neither Israeli nor international law permits a comprehensive ban on Red Cross visits applied to an entire category of detainees without individualized justification. She wrote that the state relied on a political-security directive rather than a clear legal source to justify the prohibition. Justice Barak-Erez also stated that the state repeatedly requested extensions and submitted a filing that failed to fully address the central legal questions of the case.
Deputy President Sohlberg concurred with the ruling but stated the decision could be resolved under Israeli domestic law alone. Supreme Court President Amit stated that external monitoring mechanisms recognized by law are particularly important when the state faces serious international allegations.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, HaMoked, and Gisha filed the legal petition challenging the prohibition and the state's refusal to provide detainee information to the Red Cross. Oded Feller, Legal Adviser for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, stated, "Since the beginning of the war, we have received terrible testimonies about abuse, violence, and starvation of Palestinian prisoners, without exception." Feller said, "We hope that the return of the Red Cross to the prisons will finally lead to restraint of the Israel Prison Service's abusive policy."