The Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared is closely following the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ban on visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) teams to Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons and detention centers. The Center believes that this decision, despite being issued after long months of illegal prohibition, represents a necessary initial step toward breaking the wall of systematic blackout that Israeli authorities have used as a cover to commit the crime of enforced disappearance against hundreds of detainees, particularly those from the Gaza Strip.
The Center emphasizes that the true test of this judicial development’s efficacy lies in its immediate and unconditional implementation on the ground, both within Israel Prison Service (IPS) facilities and military detention facilities, encompassing all prisoners and detainees held inside.
Furthermore, PCMFD stresses that priority access to these centers must not be limited merely to inspecting detention conditions; rather, it must be utilized as a critical tool to end the crime of enforced disappearance, by compelling the Israeli military and the prison service to immediately disclose the names of all detainees and their current locations, and to hand over official, updated records regarding their health conditions.
In this context, PCMFD underscores the necessity of enabling the ICRC to carry out its work effectively and without any restrictions. Its teams must be allowed to immediately commence their work in searching and investigating the fate of hundreds of individuals who went missing after being arrested and forcibly disappeared by the Israeli military, which includes individuals believed to have died inside prisons as a result of the gross violations they were subjected to.
Consequently, PCMFD calls upon relevant international organizations and bodies to exert effective pressure on Israel to prevent the Israeli political or security echelons from manipulating the substance of the Supreme Court’s decision, or fabricating exceptional pretexts to obstruct the Red Cross teams’ access to all forcibly disappeared persons.
