Representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) may start visiting Palestinian security prisoners as soon as Wednesday following a June 3 decision by Israel’s High Court of Justice, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported on Monday.
The decision reversed an Oct. 2025 order by Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz prohibiting visits by Red Cross representatives for security reasons. The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) had told the Defense Ministry that Red Cross personnel could pass information to terrorists in prisons.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed his anger about the ruling in an X post on Monday.
“The High Court of Justice directive to allow visits to imprisoned terrorists for the first time since Oct. 7 constitutes a direct blow to Israel’s security deterrence,” he said, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. “The security reality is clear: a drop of approximately 75% in attacks, and this according to the Shin Bet, due in part to the reform in the conditions of terrorists in prison,” he continued.
Ben-Gvir referred to the 2025 Annual Summary released by the Shin Bet in January showing a sharp decline in serious terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem—down to 54 incidents vs 231 in 2024.
“Regrettably, the High Court of Justice consistently serves as an address for enemy appeals, and as Judge [Yitzhak] Amit said to the petitioners regarding the entry of goods into Gaza, ‘This court places itself at your service,’” wrote Ben-Gvir.
In an attempt to block the court’s decision, Ben-Gvir’s party introduced a bill to legally bar Red Cross representatives from entering Israeli prisons. It failed to pass a Knesset vote on June 30 when ultra-Orthodox coalition partners refused to support the bill in anger over the government’s inability to pass a draft exemption law for yeshiva students.
In its June 3 decision, the High Court said the government had failed to present any legal basis for its decision to bar Red Cross visits even though it had many chances to do so. Justice Daphne Barak-Erez wrote: “Throughout the litigation the petitioners presented a broad legal basis for their arguments, anchored in Israeli and international law. In contrast, in spite of repeated opportunities granted to it to do so, the State avoided basing the policy that it introduced on clear legal frameworks.”
Four far-left Israeli NGOs brought the petition to the court in Feb. 2024, demanding that the Red Cross be allowed to visit Arab prisoners from Gaza and Judea and Samaria. The NGOs were The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, HaMoked, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and Gisha.
