Palestinians clear the rubble to secure the parameter after the Israeli army demolished home of the Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Jaradat, in the West Bank village of Silat al-Harithiya, Jenin, AFP
The organization said the decision by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was an extension of a broader policy aimed at cutting detainees off from the outside world and limiting oversight of their conditions, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The PPS accused Israeli prison authorities of using the isolation to facilitate torture, starvation, medical neglect, sexual violence and other violations, and said the policy had intensified since the start of the Gaza war.
The organization’s statement came shortly after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the continued denial of visits to Palestinian detainees by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was unlawful. The PPS said the ruling had not produced a tangible improvement, as Israeli authorities continued to prevent ICRC access while renewing the ban on family visits.
Israel holds roughly 8,000 to 9,500 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in its official prison system, according to figures tracked by human rights organizations like HaMoked. This number fluctuates frequently and does not consistently account for uncounted individuals held in separate military-run detention camps, according to the Israeli rights group B'tselem.
Since the start of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza in 2023, Israeli forces have carried out large-scale arrest and detention campaigns across Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Gaza’s Government Media Office said Thursday that Israeli occupation forces also detained 159 Palestinians since the start of the ceasefire between Tel Aviv and Hamas in October 2025.
The Society said the measures demonstrated what it described as coordination among Israeli state institutions to maintain the isolation of Palestinian detainees and restrict independent monitoring of their conditions.
It said Israeli prisons had increasingly become places where torture, starvation, humiliation, deliberate medical neglect, sexual violence and what it called “slow killing” were systematically practiced.
The PPS said it had recently held meetings with ICRC teams in the occupied West Bank to discuss the consequences of restrictions on the committee’s humanitarian work since the beginning of the Gaza war.
According to the Society, the meetings also addressed concerns raised by Palestinian institutions over the ICRC’s reduced ability to monitor the conditions of detainees.
The PPS called on the ICRC to publicly state that Israeli authorities continue to prevent it from visiting Palestinian detainees despite the Supreme Court ruling. It also urged the organization to disclose the obstacles it faces in carrying out its humanitarian mandate.
The Society said families had continued to be denied access to their detained relatives, describing the policy as a serious violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
It further said Israeli authorities had introduced a series of exceptional measures against detainees under the pretext of a continuing state of emergency, including the family-visit ban. The PPS also accused the Knesset of adopting or advancing legislation that provides legal cover for practices including torture, starvation and prolonged isolation.
The organization said the measures had created a detention system operating with insufficient external oversight and accountability.
The PPS urged the ICRC to move beyond what it described as exclusively confidential diplomatic efforts and take public action commensurate with the scale of the alleged violations.
It called for an explicit public position on the continued denial of ICRC access, as well as disclosure of the restrictions preventing the committee from carrying out its humanitarian duties.
The Society also accused the international community of failing to take effective measures against the alleged abuses, saying the lack of meaningful intervention had contributed to a culture of impunity.
It said the denial of family contact and ICRC access should no longer be treated as isolated violations of detainees’ rights, but as mechanisms contributing to what it described as an ongoing crime against Palestinian detainees.
The PPS called for urgent international intervention to compel Israel to end the isolation policy, immediately restore family visits, guarantee the protection of Palestinian detainees and hold those responsible for alleged violations accountable through international justice mechanisms.
Short link: