JERUSALEM, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel barred representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting Palestinian detainees held under a law classifying them as "unlawful combatants," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday.
"The expert opinions presented to me clearly indicate that visits by the Red Cross to terrorists in prisons would seriously harm national security," Katz wrote in a decree banning the visits.
The Unlawful Combatants Law allows Israel to classify a Palestinian as an "unlawful combatant," a designation not recognized under international law, and to detain them indefinitely without trial, limit access to lawyers and international monitors, and impose restrictions on movement, interrogation, or detention outside the normal judicial process.
As of October, Israel holds 2,673 Palestinians under the law, according to data from the Israel Prison Service obtained by the Israeli human rights group HaMoked. ■
