Occupation’s Supreme Court Ruling that ICRC Visits Ban to Prisoners ‘Unlawful’ Meaningless Unless Enforced; Judiciary Complicit in Entrenching Genocide
June 4, 2026
Palestinian Prisoner's Society
Ramallah, occupied Palestine – The head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), Abdullah al-Zighari, said in a statement on Thursday that the decision issued by the Israeli occupation's Supreme Court deeming the government’s policy of preventing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting Palestinian political prisoners to be “unlawful,” remains a decision without any practical effect unless it is implemented, despite the attention that this ruling has received.
This ruling must be translated into concrete measures that ensure the immediate resumption of ICRC visits to prisoners and guarantee the protection of Palestinian prisoners and their fundamental rights in accordance with the rules of international humanitarian law.
Al-Zighari explained that any genuine assessment of this decision must be accompanied by a serious review of the role expected of the ICRC and by addressing the shortcomings that characterized its intervention during the previous period, in a manner consistent with the unprecedented scale of violations being suffered by Palestinian prisoners and detainees in occupation prisons and camps.
This decision cannot, under any circumstances, serve as a cover or justification for ignoring the role that the occupation's Supreme Court has played—and continues to play—in granting legal legitimacy to occupation policies and serious violations, and in entrenching a system of impunity. Nor can it be separated from the broader context in which Israeli judicial institutions have, to varying degrees, contributed to entrenching crimes committed against the Palestinian people, including those committed against prisoners and detainees.
Since the beginning of the crime of genocide in Gaza, the occupation's judicial system has played an increasingly clear and dangerous role in providing legal cover for the continuation of serious violations against Palestinians. This is reflected in a series of judicial decisions and measures affecting their fundamental rights and freedoms. Al-Zighari further noted that Israeli military courts in the West Bank continue to function as one of the most prominent tools of the colonial apartheid system by perpetuating arbitrary detention, contributing to the institutionalization of torture and ill-treatment in prisons, and violating the most basic guarantees of fair trial and detainees’ fundamental rights. He reaffirmed the importance of continuing international efforts and demands aimed at dismantling these courts as a structural component of the system of colonial repression and control.
Al-Zighari stated that the level of crimes and violations experienced by Palestinian prisoners and detainees since the start of the genocide has reached unprecedented and dangerous levels, posing a direct threat to their lives and human dignity. Policies of deliberate starvation, denial of medical care, the spread of diseases and epidemics, as well as systematic torture, daily abuse, and cruel and degrading treatment, have led to the martyrdom of over 100 prisoners, 89 of whom have so far been publicly identified. This is a severe indication of the scale of crimes being committed within the occupation's detention system.
Al-Zighari renewed his call on the international human rights system—including the United Nations and its relevant mechanisms, as well as international human rights organizations—to move beyond monitoring, documentation, and the issuance of reports and take practical and effective steps that would lead to holding the occupying state accountable for crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners and detainees.