JAKARTA - The Israeli Supreme Court issued a ruling that effectively overturned a ban on members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting Palestinians detained in the country's prisons.
The court stated that the reason for the ban was no longer valid, given the return of all hostages from the Gaza Strip.
Speaking on behalf of the court, Judge Daphne Barak-Erez said the government had made more than 25 requests to extend the ban, but had not provided "substantive legal explanations" until the morning of the last hearing.
The government also "failed to provide a coherent legal framework" for the ban.
"The state was given many opportunities to explain and justify its position - but the opportunity was not used. The effect is that the state is leaving it to this court to resolve the existing problems," said Barak-Erez, launching The National (5/6).
The latest Supreme Court ruling follows a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) in February, calling for the ban to be lifted.
ACRI Executive Director Noa Sattath said his organization would monitor compliance with the ruling and be ready to return to court if the government failed to provide "full and unhindered access to the ICRC, including direct and unmonitored meetings with each prisoner".
Meanwhile, the ICRC welcomed the court's ruling.
"We take note of the court's decision and stand ready to continue our work in visiting prisoners in Israeli detention facilities," the organization said.
"Based on the Fourth Geneva Convention, the ICRC's access to prisoners, and the ability to meet with them individually, is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law. We see this ruling as a positive step," he added.
Although the Israeli army found the bodies of the last remaining hostages in January, the ICRC was still banned from visiting the prisoners.
Previously, the court had ruled in October that the ICRC's prison visit ban, imposed at the start of the 2023 Gaza war, would remain in place "to return all those abducted and killed to Israel" - referring to hostages captured by Hamas during the October 7 attack that sparked the conflict.
The ruling, seen by The National, was issued after Hamas returned all the surviving hostages, but not their dead bodies, under the terms of a ceasefire that began in October last year.
The Red Cross's ban on visits means more than 10,000 Palestinians held in Israel cannot report on their health and detention conditions.
Many former detainees have reported inhumane treatment in Israeli jails, including restrictions on clean water and beds that led to the spread of scabies. Others say they were attacked, human rights groups say.
The Red Cross can also check whether Palestinians reported missing by their families have been detained, as Israeli authorities often carry out arrests without informing relatives of detainees.
The number of Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails has nearly doubled from around 5,200 to more than 10,000 after Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza and carried out raids in cities and refugee camps in the occupied West Bank to search for suspected militants.
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