Palestinian Prisoner’s Society slams Israeli decison to block Red Cross visits
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says Israel’s Katz’s decision to prevent members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting Palestinian prisoners is further cover for the crimes ongoing in the Israeli facilities, Wafa reported.
In a statement released by the advocacy group, the decision was announced hours before a Supreme Court session on a petition to resume visits by the ICRC, which had been postponed numerous times since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
It added that the decision also came just after preliminary approvals in Knesset committees that would allow the execution of prisoners and the establishment of special courts that lack any judicial guarantees to try prisoners from the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society demanded that the ICRC resume its visits to prisoners and called on the organisation to take a clear stance against Israel’s decision to block the visits.
The Elders call for Marwan Barghouti’s immediate release from Israeli prison
The Elders, a group of world leaders and human rights advocates, has issued a call for US President Trump to demand Barghouti’s release, “capitalising on the opportunity opened up by the fragile ceasefire deal in Gaza”.
Barghouti, a prominent member of the Palestinian political faction Fatah and a unifying figure among Palestinians, has been in Israeli prison since the early 2000s. His family recently said they feared for his life amid reports that guards beat him.
“Marwan Barghouti has been a long-term advocate for a two-state solution by peaceful means, and is consistently the most popular Palestinian leader in opinion polls. But Israel has so far refused to release Barghouti as part of President Trump’s deal,” The Elders said in a statement.
“Many Palestinians refer to Marwan Barghouti as ‘their Mandela’,” the statement continued, referring to former South African president and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, who founded The Elders in 2007.
“He has a vital role to play as a unifying figure, whose reputation as a supporter of a two-state solution has grown over his 23 years of imprisonment,” the group said of Barghouti. “Freeing him now would send a signal that Israel is serious about pursuing a peaceful, political path to resolve the conflict.”
Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has been in Israeli prison since the early 2000s
