Rights groups petition High Court to resume family visits to Palestinian prisoners after 2 years

Israeli human rights organizations are petitioning the High Court to resume family visits for Palestinian security prisoners, after the practice was banned at the outset of the Gaza war.

The petition, filed by HaMoked, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Public Committee Against Torture, calls the ban on family visits discriminatory and a form of collective punishment, amid reports of increasingly dire conditions for security inmates over the past two years.

“Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, the State of Israel has almost completely cut off Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the outside world,” says Daniel Shenhar, a lawyer for HaMoked who submitted the petition.

“Parents have had no contact with their children, children with their parents, and siblings with one another. Despite the end of active hostilities and an agreement to bring home all the hostages, the authorities do not appear to believe there is any need to alter this policy of isolation,” he continues.

Family visits were banned by the Prisons Service chief Kobi Yaakobi in a temporary order, which instructs for all “routine activities” normally conducted in prisons to be “minimized or cancelled entirely.”

Since then, Palestinian inmates have been unable to contact their relatives through both phone calls and in-person visits. The order has been extended several times since it was initially handed down, and is set to expire on July 31, 2026. Prison officials also forbid visits by the Red Cross, and stopped passing information about Palestinian inmates to the humanitarian group.

Inmates’ only contact with the outside world has been through visits by their attorneys, which are subject to harsh restrictions, the groups say. Meanwhile, conditions in prisons have deteriorated, with inmates claiming they are subjected to routine humiliation and abuse, face restricted access to medical care and severe overcrowding.

The group notes that dozens of Palestinian security prisoners have died in custody since October 7, echoing a report from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which has documented 98 prisoner deaths since the start of the war.

As of November 2, the Israel Prison Service holds 9,206 Palestinians suspected or convicted of what Israel classifies as security offenses — crimes ranging from terror attacks to publishing incitement online.

Among the Palestinian security detainees are 3,368 administrative detainees, as well as 3,389 inmates awaiting trial who have not yet been convicted. The detainees include 350 children and 48 women, the rights groups say.