In a highly rare exercise of wartime legal restraint, Israel's Supreme Court ruled Sunday that the Israeli government has deprived Palestinian detainees of even a minimum subsistence diet and ordered authorities to increase the amount and improve the quality of food served to deprived Palestinian inmates. Although it's the job of the Supreme Court to advise the government of the legality of its policies, the Israeli judiciary has seldom taken issue with its actions in the 23-month Israel-Hamas war.

Since Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, Israel has largely rejected growing international criticism of its conduct by arguing that it was doing what was necessary to defeat Hamas. The Israeli army has detained large numbers of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank on suspicion of militant ties. Thousands have been released from months of detention in camps and jails without charge to tell of brutal conditions, including overcrowding, scant food supplies, inadequate medical attention and scabies outbreaks.

As Israel's highest tier of accountability, the Supreme Court hears complaints from individuals and organisations against Israeli government actions, such as its practice of restricting food and medical supplies to Gaza or, in this case, what two Israeli human rights groups described in their complaint as the security establishment's 'systemic policy' of depriving Palestinian prisoners of food. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the Israeli government had a legal duty to provide Palestinian prisoners with three meals a day to ensure 'a basic level of existence" and ordered authorities to fulfil that obligation.