Ministers to Netanyahu: No Red Cross visits to Nukhba terrorists without hostage checks first

Eleven government ministers joined Minister Orit Strock's call on Thursday not to allow visits by representatives of the Red Cross to the Nukhba terrorists imprisoned in Israel.

The Red Cross would visit the terrorists without having visited the hostages held in Gaza and providing them with medication first.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the political and security cabinet were presented with the call, which they were expected to discuss on Thursday night.

Earlier this week, the High Court of Justice issued a conditional order according to which the state must explain why visits by the Red Cross's representatives to Israeli prisons should be prevented. The ministers demand that this position be the state's answer to the High Court.

Minister Orit Strock led the call and was joined by Amichai Eliyahu, Uriel Busso, Yitzhak Goldknopf, Miki Zohar, Amichai Chikli, Idit Silman, Ya’acov Margi, Ofir Sofer, and May Golan.

Authorized Nukhba visits

Last April, politicians and various organizations strongly criticized the decision of the War Cabinet to authorize visits to Nukhba prisoners.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed approving the visits, which was supported by most cabinet ministers, as opposed to ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who opposed it.

Ben-Gvir commented on the decision, saying, "These visits harm deterrence and negotiations with Hamas, raise the morale of the terrorists, may lead to prison riots, and beyond that, it is a violation of Israeli sovereignty, and an opening for international intervention in other issues in the future. No country that respects its sovereignty and security would allow this to happen."

Smotrich, who did not directly address the approval of the visits, criticized the Mossad and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) after the cabinet discussion, saying that there are those in Israel who "repeatedly humiliate Israel and erode its positions and only make Sinwar harden his positions and push away the chance of returning the hostages."

"The time has come for the Mossad and the Shin Bet to return to doing what they were trained to do - to eliminate the leaders of Hamas all over the world and not in negotiations that are conducted irresponsibly that harm Israel's security."