On 29 June 2026, the Israeli Knesset failed to proceed with the passage of a bill seeking to prohibit the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. This followed the bill's approval in its first reading on 9 June 2026 and came approximately one week after the Israeli Supreme Court, on 3 June 2026, ruled that the prohibition order issued by the Israeli Minister of War at the outset of the genocide against the Gaza Strip in October 2023 was unlawful and therefore null and void. Al Mezan had issued a press release in response to that ruling.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights stresses that the ICRC is the body specifically mandated under international humanitarian law to carry out humanitarian and monitoring functions with respect to persons deprived of their liberty during armed conflict. As the Occupying Power, Israel is under a peremptory legal obligation to facilitate the ICRC's work and ensure its unhindered access to all places of detention. Israel's continued denial of such access, despite the Supreme Court's ruling permitting ICRC visits to Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, reflects a deliberate policy aimed at excluding international oversight and independent witnesses and preventing the preservation of evidence relating to the grave violations perpetrated against Palestinian detainees.
Al Mezan remains gravely concerned over the continued denial of ICRC access, particularly in light of the patterns of serious violations the Center has documented over the past two and a half years during the ongoing genocide against the Gaza Strip. These violations include the systematic torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including electrocution, severe beatings, stress positions, rape and other forms of sexual violence, the use of attack dogs, prolonged solitary confinement, and even live gunfire. Such violations begin from the very first moments of arrest. Israeli occupation authorities have also employed starvation, threats of killing, and the deliberate imposition of inhumane detention conditions, among numerous other abusive practices, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Palestinian detainees.
In light of the above, Al Mezan calls for the International Committee of the Red Cross to be granted immediate and unhindered access to all Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons and for its mandate to be fully facilitated in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Center further calls for the immediate cessation of all measures intended to prevent or obstruct the ICRC's work and for full respect for its mandate as a neutral, independent, and impartial humanitarian organization.
Al Mezan also calls upon the international community to fulfil its legal and moral responsibilities by taking decisive and effective measures to bring an end to the ongoing genocide against the Gaza Strip, notwithstanding the ceasefire declared in October 2025. The Center further urges States to activate effective accountability mechanisms to ensure that all perpetrators of international crimes, as well as those who ordered, authorized, or otherwise facilitated their commission, are held accountable in accordance with international law.
