Israel Supreme Court Rules Government Fails to Feed Palestinian Prisoners Amid Gaza War

Israel’s Supreme Court issued a rare ruling against the government, finding that Palestinian security prisoners are not being provided with enough food to meet basic subsistence requirements and ordering immediate improvements to prison nutrition. The decision came in response to petitions filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Gisha, which alleged that a policy change after the war in Gaza began caused malnutrition and starvation among detainees. The court’s majority criticized the current food supply as insufficient and expressed real doubts about prisoners' nourishment, while one judge dissented, supporting the government's position. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prison system and has publicly boasted about reducing prisoner conditions to the bare minimum, condemned the ruling, accusing the court of defending terrorists. Human rights groups have documented widespread abuse in Israeli detention facilities, including inadequate food, poor health care, and unsanitary conditions, with at least one death attributed to starvation. The court emphasized that stricter food restrictions on prisoners do not alleviate the suffering of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, reinforcing the legal obligation to ensure basic sustenance for detainees.