‘I’ll stand at prison gates’: MKs push to block Red Cross visits to Israeli prisons

MKs oppose Red Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners, citing security concerns and lack of action on hostages held by Hamas. Calls for reciprocity persist.

MKs pushed to prevent visitation from the International Committee of the Red Cross to Israeli prisons during a Knesset National Security Committee meeting on Tuesday, as representatives from the Israel Prison Service (IPS) said that allowance of such visits could harm the security of the state.

Since the October 7 massacre in 2023 and the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war,Red Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners were stopped, along with the transfer of information.

A High Court ruling in August 2024 called on the state to explain its refusal to allow the Red Cross to see Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

MKs in the committee meeting said that because the Red Cross was not doing enough to bring aid or visit the hostages held in Hamas captivity, visits to Palestinian prisoners could not be reciprocated.

Head of the committee MK Zvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit) said that “no effort” was being made by the Red Cross on behalf of the hostages.

“Reciprocity must be preserved and conditions kept equal. I will do everything to ensure the Red Cross visits our hostages, and until that happens, I will stand at the prison gates and prevent their visits,” Fogel told those at the meeting.

MK Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) called the Red Cross “an antisemitic organization.”

She said the Red Cross “acted in a biased manner toward our hostages” by equating them to the Palestinian prisoners rather than “ terrorists who raped, murdered, and committed horrific crimes.”

MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash-Tal) spoke in favor of allowing the Red Cross visits to the Palestinian prisoners, saying that “Many things are happening inside the prisons. The High Court ruling on prisoner conditions is no coincidence."

Last week, the High Court ruled that the IPS failed to provide adequate and nourishing food to security prisoners. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) has publicly made statements on lowering conditions for prisoners, though maintaining that the "basic minimal conditions required by law" are being provided.

Touma-Sliman added that the lack of Red Cross visits to the hostages comes because the organization has been unable to “convince Hamas to allow visits”.

“To blame them [Red Cross] for that is far-fetched and absurd. Both sides are telling them: You will not visit until the other side allows it.”

A representative from the IPS counter-terror division spoke on potential security issues with visits, saying, “We have information that Red Cross visits could harm prison security and possibly state security.”

The legal advisor for the IPS told the committee that “Since the beginning of the war, the IPS’s position has been that the Red Cross should not enter prisons, based on a professional assessment by the intelligence division that such visits could harm prison security and endanger prison staff.”

MK Ariel Kallner (Likud) also spoke on the potential security threats of letting the Red Cross visit Israeli prisons.

“There have been cases where the Red Cross harmed state security and used its access to convey information,” he said.

A delusional request

“Allowing visits to those murderers in our prisons is a delusional request that is unfair, unjustified, and unacceptable,” Kallner added.

Bereaved hostage family members spoke at the committee meeting as well.

Hanna Cohen, aunt of slain hostage Inbar Haiman, whose body is still held by Hamas, told the committee that “Our daughter was kidnapped by those who sit in prison and are now requesting Red Cross visits.”

“In a normal country, they should have been executed,” she added.

“I don’t know where our daughter is. The law obligates the Red Cross to check where she is. My family is tortured,” she said.

At the end of the discussion, Fogel told those at the committee, “We must act as a state with backbone. The cabinet must decide: no Red Cross visits until information on our hostages is received.”