State requests 16th delay in response to court on visits to Palestinian prisoners

Ofer Prison in Israel where some Palestinian prisoners are held

Chen Maanit reports in Haaretz on 31 December 2024:

The state submitted a request to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday for the 16th time to postpone the deadline to submit its final response to a petition demanding the Red Cross be permitted to visit Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and relay information about them.

The request cites “serious security and diplomatic reasons that cannot be elaborated on.” The state also asked the court for the sixth time to postpone the hearing on the petition.

Israel halted visits by the Red Cross to Palestinian prisoners immediately after the start of the war on October 7. The transfer of information to the Red Cross about prisoners was also stopped. The petition seeking to renew the visits was filed in February by four human rights organizations, but no hearing has been held. After numerous postponements, a hearing was scheduled for next week, but now the state is requesting that it be postponed until March.

In its request, the state notes that during the requested period for delaying the hearing, “the diplomatic dialogue with the United States will continue.” It also asked to present the court with a document listing classified reasons that support the postponement.

Last month, the government informed the court that Israeli officials are in talks with the U.S. officials regarding America’s involvement in a mechanism for visiting Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as a substitute for the Red Cross visits.  The state said that following an inquiry from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin regarding Red Cross visits, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer sent them a letter in which Israel gave its approval in principle for an alternative mechanism for visits. The government says this mechanism could include a team headed by a former Israeli justice and two foreign observers.

This week, Haaretz reported that since the outbreak of the war, the fate of many Gazans who were last seen in the custody of the Israeli army remains unknown. The army claims it has “no information” about them being detained or arrested. However, the last time they were seen, they were being detained or arrested by Israeli troops.

In recent months, Palestinians and human rights organizations have filed 27 petitions to find out what happened to the missing people. Though most were rejected, some of the petitions pushed the army to conduct further investigations. They revealed that some people, on whom IDF previously claimed to have no data, are either held in Israeli detention facilities or have died.

In a February petition, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Doctors Without Borders, Hamoked – Center for the Defense of the Individual, and Gisha argued that according to international law, even if one side in a conflict violates its obligations under the laws of warfare, this does not exempt the other side from its obligations.

The petitioners say, “Even though Hamas is holding Israeli hostages in terrible conditions, refuses to provide information about them and refuses to allow the Red Cross to visit them, Israel is still bound by law to permit such visits to the Palestinian prisoners it holds in custody.” They also say, “Israel is a law-abiding country and must act as such, and its duties toward those it holds in custody do not change due to Hamas’ war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

In response to the postponement requests, the petitioners’ attorneys Roni Peled and Oded Feller asked the court to issue an order in the event the hearing is postponed, mandating the resumption of Red Cross visits and the transfer of information regarding all detainees and prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

This article is reproduced in its entirety