In rare ruling, Israeli Supreme Court says Israel deprives Palestinian
prisoners of food
[September 08, 2025]
By NATALIE MELZER
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.
As Israel’s highest tier of accountability, the Supreme Court hears
complaints from individuals and organizations against Israeli government
actions, such as its practice of restricting food and medical supplies
to Gaza or, in this case, what two Israeli human rights groups described
in their complaint as the security establishment's “systemic policy” of
depriving Palestinian prisoners of food.
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.
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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."
Palestinian authorities have recorded the deaths at least 61
Palestinians in Israeli custody since the war started. In March, a
17-year-old Palestinian in Israel prison died of what doctors said
was likely starvation.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the
prison system, boasted last year that he degraded the conditions of
security prisoners to the bare minimum required by Israeli law.
Ben-Gvir, who leads a small far-right ultranationalist party, lashed
out at the court ruling Sunday.
“Are you from Israel?” he asked the judges, arguing that while
Israeli hostages in Gaza have no one to help them, Israel's Supreme
Court defends Hamas “to our disgrace.” He vowed the policy of
providing prisoners with “the most minimal conditions stipulated by
law” would continue unchanged.
ACRI called on authorities to implement the verdict immediately. In
a post on social media platform X, the rights group said Israel's
prison service has “turned Israeli prisons into torture camps."
“A state must not starve people,” it said. "People must not starve
people — no matter what they have done.”
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