Israel Ordered to Improve Food for Palestinian Prisoners

Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees, in Gaza, December 8, 2023

In a rare move, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Sunday that Palestinian detainees have been deprived of even a minimal subsistence diet. The court ordered authorities to increase the quantity and improve the quality of food provided to prisoners.

The Israeli judiciary has seldom challenged government actions during the 23-month Israel-Hamas war, which began after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel has largely rejected international criticism, insisting its measures are 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. Released detainees have described overcrowded conditions, insufficient food, poor medical care, and outbreaks of diseases such as scabies.

The Supreme Court, Israel’s highest judicial authority, hears complaints against government actions. Two Israeli human rights groups—the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Gisha—claimed that authorities were systematically depriving Palestinian prisoners of food.

The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the government must provide prisoners with three meals a day to ensure a “basic level of existence” and ordered immediate compliance. The court accepted the petition filed last year, noting that deliberate restrictions had caused malnutrition and starvation among detainees.

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

Palestinian authorities report at least 61 deaths in Israeli custody since the war began. In March, a 17-year-old Palestinian detainee reportedly died from likely starvation.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prison system, has previously boasted of keeping prisoner conditions at the minimum allowed by law. He criticised the court ruling Sunday, accusing judges of siding with Hamas and vowing that minimal conditions would continue.

ACRI urged immediate implementation of the verdict, saying Israel’s prison system had “turned Israeli prisons into torture camps.” “A state must not starve people,” the group added. “People must not starve people—no matter what they have done.”