News release

ICRC team meets authorities at Israeli military detention facility as part of efforts to reinstate access

An image shows the emblem of the International Committee of the Red Cross

Jerusalem / Tel Aviv – Today, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) team held a technical meeting, assessment and tour of a military detention facility in Israel. The team neither met nor had direct contact with any detainees.

Today’s assessment included positive discussions with the detaining authorities and a tour of parts of the facility, as part of our ongoing efforts to resume ICRC visits to detainees held in Israeli places of detention.

“This meeting is a step in the right direction towards resuming proper visits to detainees held in Israeli places of detention. The ICRC will continue discussing the modalities of such visits with all relevant authorities in order to enable their resumption,” said Julien Lerisson, ICRC’s head of delegation for Israel and the Occupied Territories.

Note to editors:

The ICRC has been unable to access detainees held in Israeli detention facilities since October 2023. The ICRC reiterates the need to be informed of the fate and whereabouts of all detainees and to be granted access to them.

Under international humanitarian law, detainees must be treated humanely, provided with acceptable conditions of detention, and allowed to communicate with their families.

About the ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial, and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.

For more information, please contact:

Pat Griffiths: Jerusalem – mob: +972 52 601 9150 – email: pgriffiths@icrc.org 

Gilad Grossman: Tel Aviv – mob: +972 52 601 9123 – email: ggrossman@icrc.org 

Mohammad Abdullah: Ramallah – mob: +970 593 010 067 – email: mohaabdallah@icrc.org