Red Cross meets officials at Israeli detention facility, not allowed to see Palestinian prisoners

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross met with Israeli security officials at a military detention facility today as part of its ongoing efforts to renew its visits to Palestinian security prisoners and detainees, according to a statement from Julien Lerisson, the head of the ICRC in Israel.

The team held a technical meeting and received a tour of the facility, but did not see or have any direct access to those held there, Lerisson says.

Still, Lerisson calls the discussions “positive” and “a step in the right direction toward resuming appropriate visits to detainees held in Israeli detention facilities,” vowing that the ICRC will “continue discussing the format and conditions for conducting these visits with all relevant authorities, to enable their resumption.”

An ICRC spokesperson told The Times of Israel on Monday that the meeting would take place as it tries to resume the visits to Palestinian security prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails. Israel halted the visits nearly three years ago, following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.

Earlier this year, the High Court of Justice ruled that the government cannot prevent the visits. In the wake of reports that visits will resume, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accused the court of harming the deterrence capability of Israel’s security forces.