Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, and Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) have sent an urgent letter to Ms. Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), calling for the immediate resumption of prison visits to Israeli detention facilities holding Palestinian prisoners.

In the letter, the organizations highlighted the grave and deteriorating conditions faced by Palestinian detainees over the past two years, including systematic starvation, deliberate medical negligence, physical and psychological torture, rape and sexual violence, and the denial of basic rights protected under international humanitarian and human rights law. These crimes have resulted in the deaths of at least eighty (80) Palestinian prisoners while in Israeli custody.

The organizations also called on the ICRC to deploy its medical teams to assess and monitor the health of prisoners urgently, noting that many detainees suffer from chronic illnesses, untreated injuries, and the severe consequences of starvation and torture. They urged the ICRC to demand that Israeli authorities provide immediate and adequate medical care to all prisoners in line with international standards.

The letter further emphasized that all Israeli captives have been released, leaving no justification for the Israeli occupation to deny ICRC visits to Palestinian prisoners. In addition, the organizations drew attention to the ongoing withholding of hundreds of Palestinian bodies from Gaza, including 88 prisoners whose bodies remain withheld, 77 of whom were killed after the start of the genocide in Gaza. The ICRC was called upon to intervene urgently to ensure these bodies are returned to their families without delay.

The organizations stated that the humanitarian situation of Palestinian prisoners is critical and life-threatening, and ICRC’s intervention is urgently needed to protect their rights, dignity, and lives.

The organizations concluded by urging the ICRC to take swift and concrete measures to resume regular and unimpeded visitation programs and to publicly call on the occupying power to comply with its legal and moral obligations toward Palestinian detainees.