Israel Prison Service restricts Red Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners despite High Court ruling

Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross visiting the Ktzi’ot prison in 2025

Chen Maanit reports in Haaretz on 12 July 2026:

Israel Prison Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi last week imposed new restrictions that significantly limit the International Committee of the Red Cross’s visits to Palestinian security prisoners, despite a High Court ruling that found the blanket ban on such occasions, imposed after October 7, 2023, to be unlawful.

According to information obtained by Haaretz, the new policy, which defies a unanimous ruling by top court justices from last month, was adopted without consulting Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, even though it could have international legal and diplomatic implications.

Under the new rules, the Prison Service limits the ICRC to one visit per quarter and requires the agency to submit in advance a list of no more than five prisoners it wishes to visit.

The regulations also bar the ICRC from visiting certain categories of security prisoners and detainees under any circumstances, including those the IPS classifies as “highly violent,” as well as prisoners held in solitary confinement or under interrogation.

In addition, each visit is limited to 30 minutes, with prison commanders authorized to cut meetings short at their discretion.

The new regulations no longer guarantee private, face-to-face meetings between ICRC representatives and detainees, nor do they allow for medical examinations of prisoners. Under the previous policy, ICRC delegates could ask that a prisoner or detainee be examined by a physician, but the new rules contain no such provision.

Instead, two ICRC representatives will meet each prisoner individually from behind a partition via an intercom system and will not be permitted to meet with more than one prisoner at a time.

Before October 7, 2023, the visits were conducted inside prisoners’ cells, behind closed doors and out of the presence of prison guards, and delegates were allowed to meet with several prisoners sharing the same cell.

The new rules also require all ICRC representatives to undergo security screening before entering detention facilities and prohibit them from bringing in recording devices, mobile phones, smartwatches, computers, tablets, cameras or other communication equipment.

“The Israel Prison Service’s new temporary directive effectively dismantles the previous framework governing Red Cross visits,” Attorney Oded Feller, legal adviser to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, told Haaretz.  “It replaces it with a highly restrictive mechanism, turning what was both a legal right and a legal obligation into a limited process subject to the IPS’s approval,” he added.  “This is not compliance with the court’s ruling, but contempt for it,” Feller said. “Its sole purpose is to continue concealing the abuses taking place in IPS facilities.”

Immediately after the war began, Israel imposed a sweeping policy that, for the first time, barred International Committee of the Red Cross visits to Palestinian security prisoners held in Israel Prison Service and military detention facilities.

One justification for the policy was that Israeli hostages held by Hamas had not been granted ICRC visits. However, the ban remained in place even after all hostages were returned. In addition, under the direction of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, conditions for security prisoners were significantly tightened, with some detainees alleging they were subjected to hunger, violence and abuse.

Against this backdrop, the High Court of Justice last month accepted petitions filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and other human rights organizations, ordering the state to resume ICRC visits to security prisoners.

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Deputy President Noam Sohlberg and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez wrote in their ruling that the government’s decision lacked a basis in Israeli law or international law. The court therefore determined that the policy violated existing legal standards and must be overturned.

The justices noted that the case raised questions about the state’s obligations toward its enemies. “Israel is a Jewish and democratic state that will not follow in the path of terrorist organizations,” Barak-Erez wrote.  “Adherence to the requirements of the law is the foundation without which systems of governance and justice cannot exist. This principled position is not a new one,” she added.

Last year, the court sharply criticized the government for refusing to allow the visits, with Amit warning officials that the country’s prisons were being likened abroad to Guantanamo Bay.

Sources familiar with the details of the closed-door hearing told Haaretz that Amit told government officials in attendance that “right now what is being said all over the world is that Israeli prisons are Guantanamo” and that the reports allege that “there is starvation, that dozens of prisoners are dying. You are putting us, the court, in the front.”

The Israel Prison Service said in response: “The agency operates in accordance with the law. If any allegation is raised, it should be addressed through the appropriate channels.”

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