Palestinian Rights Groups Warn of Israeli Bill Blocking Red Cross Visits to Prisoners
Palestinian rights organizations have raised alarm over a proposed Israeli bill that would prohibit representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from entering Israeli prisons and visiting Palestinian detainees. The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Society confirmed that the bill was introduced by the Israeli Knesset's National Security Committee this week.
Since Israel occupied the Palestinian territories of Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank in 1967, it had allowed ICRC workers to visit political detainees and relay information to their families. However, following the outbreak of the war on Gaza in late 2023, Israel began barring ICRC representatives from accessing more than 9,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Last week, Israel's High Court of Justice ruled that this policy was unlawful due to a lack of legal basis. According to the Palestine News Agency, Palestinian rights groups stated that the new bill “aims to legitimize and legally entrench grave violations against the Palestinian people within the context of the ongoing genocide, of which Israeli prisons are a primary arena.” They further asserted that the move seeks to circumvent the High Court's ruling.
In May, Israeli lawmakers passed a law legalizing the death penalty for Palestinian convicts involved in deadly attacks against Israelis. As of May 2023, there were 9,361 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails, who have endured harsh conditions since October 2023, resulting in the deaths of at least 97 of them.
