RAMALLAH, August 7, 2026 (WAFA) – The Head of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, Raed Abu Al-Hummos, today called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to issue a clear response to the policy pursued by Israel’s extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has once again signed an order banning visits to Palestinian detainees held in Israeli detention facilities.
In a statement issued on Friday, Abu al-Hummos said that Ben-Gvir continues his “criminal policy” and has once again issued instructions to maintain the practice of keeping male and female detainees isolated, cutting them off from the outside world, preventing family visits, and continuing to deny human rights and humanitarian institutions access to detainees, in an open move that disregards the international community and its international and UN bodies.
He added that it has become imperative for the ICRC and all human rights and humanitarian institutions to issue a position condemning these practices, exposing the occupation authorities’ failure to cooperate with international institutions, obstruct their work, and deny their existence, while issuing a clear report using terminology and language that reflect the seriousness of this disregard for the international community.
Abu al-Hummos called on the Red Cross and all international and UN institutions to obtain their rights from the occupation authorities and carry out their humanitarian and ethical duties without requiring Israel’s approval, stressing the need for a genuine challenge to break the fait accompli policy imposed by the occupation authorities over the past three years at an accelerated pace and in violation of all international norms and laws.
Israeli occupation authorities have prevented visits by families of detainees and the International Committee of the Red Cross since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, amid ongoing calls from human rights organizations to end these measures, which violate provisions of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which guarantees the rights of detainees.
T.R.
