In brief
The Israeli Supreme Court has made a rare decision in wartime by ordering the government to provide Palestinian detainees with adequate food, after a ruling that criticized the current conditions as insufficient. The court's unanimous decision highlights legal obligations to ensure basic survival amidst ongoing criticisms of Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners during the current conflict with Hamas.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — In a highly rare exercise of wartime legal restraint, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Sunday that the Israeli government has deprived Palestinian detainees of even a minimum subsistence diet and ordered authorities to increase the amount and improve the quality of food served to deprived Palestinian inmates.Although it’s the job of the Supreme Court to advise the government of the legality of its policies, the Israeli judiciary has seldom taken issue with its actions in the 23-month Israel-Hamas war. Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, Israel has largely rejected growing international criticism of its conduct by arguing that it was doing what was necessary to defeat Hamas. The Israeli army has detained large numbers of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank on suspicion of militant ties. Thousands have been released from months of detention in camps and jails without charge to tell of brutal conditions, including overcrowding, scant food supplies, inadequate medical attention and scabies outbreaks. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the Israeli government had a legal duty to provide Palestinian prisoners with three meals a day to ensure 'a basic level of existence' and ordered authorities to fulfill that obligation. In an unexpected 2-1 decision, the court furthermore accepted the petition filed last year by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, or ACRI, and the Israeli rights group Gisha, siding with their allegations that the government’s deliberate restriction of prisoners’ food in Israeli detention facilities has caused Palestinians to suffer malnutrition and starvation during the Israel-Hamas war. '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.' Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the ruling, asserting the necessity of maintaining minimal conditions for detainees. ACRI has called for immediate implementation of the court's ruling, emphasizing that no state should allow starvation of individuals, regardless of their actions.
