UK observers to visit Israeli detention facilities holding Palestinian prisoners

Israel has agreed to allow UK-appointed observers to visit detention facilities holding alleged Hamas prisoners who have been under arrest since 7 October, Haaretz has reported.

This decision comes amidst reports that the conditions in these facilities may constitute a breach of international law, and follows shocking revelations about the UK government’s suspension of legal assessments over whether Israel is breaching International Humanitarian Law.

The foreign observers, whose identities are yet to be determined, will enter the detention facilities escorted by an Israeli judge and perform sample tests with prisoners to assess the conditions they are being held in.

However, members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have expressed deep unhappiness about the visit, criticising the decision as a “grave mistake” that undermines deterrence and violates Israeli sovereignty.

Israeli newspapers have reported several eyewitness accounts in recent months indicating that Palestinians prisoners are blindfolded 24-hours a day, with their hands and legs in cuffs and are fed through straws. A doctor at the field hospital set up at the Sde Teiman detention centre described conditions that could compromise the inmates’ health and put the government at risk of violating the law.

As of last month, at least 27 prisoners had died in military custody since the war began, with occupation forces not providing data about the circumstances surrounding their deaths. The facilities are fenced-in, with lights kept on all night in the prisoner areas, and inmates are taken to interrogations and returned to Gaza if found not to be involved in terror activity.

The decision to allow UK observers into these detention facilities has highlighted the growing international concern over the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody and the potential breach of international law.

The UK government has been sitting on legal advice which concluded that Israel is in violation of international law, a determination that would make it illegal for Britain to sell arms to the occupation state. Opposition leaders and rights groups have been demanding to see details of the advice.

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