Israel depriving Palestinian prisoners of food, its Supreme Court rules

NN ONLINE:

In a rare wartime intervention, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Sunday that the government has denied Palestinian detainees even a minimum subsistence diet and directed authorities to provide more food of better quality to inmates.

The court’s decision marks one of the few times the judiciary has challenged government actions during the 23-month Israel-Hamas war.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, Israel has brushed aside mounting global criticism by insisting its measures are necessary to defeat Hamas.

Israeli forces have detained large numbers of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank over alleged militant links. Many were later released without charge after months in camps and prisons, reporting harsh conditions that included overcrowding, limited food, poor medical care and outbreaks of scabies.

Acting as Israel’s highest body of accountability, the Supreme Court reviews complaints from individuals and rights groups against government practices, such as restricting food and medical supplies to Gaza or, in this case, what two Israeli organizations called a “systemic policy” of depriving prisoners of food.

In a unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel said the government has a legal duty to provide Palestinian detainees with three daily meals to ensure “a basic level of existence” and ordered officials to meet that standard.

In addition, in a 2-1 decision, the court accepted a petition from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and the rights group Gisha, agreeing with their claim that the government’s deliberate food restrictions in detention facilities had led to malnutrition and starvation.

“We are not speaking here of comfortable living or luxury, but of the basic conditions of survival as required by law,” the ruling said. “Let us not share in the ways of our worst enemies.”

Palestinian officials say at least 61 detainees have died in Israeli custody since the war began, including a 17-year-old boy in March whom doctors said likely died of starvation.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees prisons, previously boasted that he reduced conditions for Palestinian security prisoners to the legal minimum. On Sunday, he condemned the court’s decision.

“Are you from Israel?” he asked the judges, arguing that while Israeli hostages in Gaza have no one to help them, Israel’s Supreme Court defends Hamas “to our disgrace.” He pledged that prisoners would continue to receive “the most minimal conditions stipulated by law.”

ACRI urged immediate implementation of the ruling, writing on social platform X that Israel’s prison service has “turned Israeli prisons into torture camps.”

“A state must not starve people,” it said. “People must not starve people — no matter what they have done.”