JERUSALEM — The High Court of Justice issued a conditional order requiring the state to justify delays in judicial review for detainees from Gaza. Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Justice Dafna Barak-Erez, and Justice Ruth Ronnen signed the conditional order, which sets a July 19 deadline for the state's response.

The High Court directed the state to explain why the provisions allowing extended detention periods should not be revised or canceled. Current regulations permit adult detainees to be held for up to 40 days and minor detainees for up to 30 days before judicial review. These regulations are part of the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law, enacted in 2002, which permits the detention of individuals classified as unlawful combatants to prevent their return to armed conflict. Detainees under this law are not necessarily held for criminal prosecution.

The Knesset approved temporary wartime amendments to the detention timelines after the October 7 attacks. Five organizations filed petitions in February 2024 to challenge this framework. The petitions named the Knesset, the government, the prime minister, the defense minister, the Israeli Defense Forces, the Shin Bet, and the attorney-general as respondents.

The state submitted an argument on June 2, 2024, maintaining that the emergency detention framework remains necessary. The state cited a worsened security situation, including conflict with Iran and renewed ground maneuvers in Lebanon, as justification for retaining longer timeframes in the final amendment. The state asserted that the total number of detainees held under the law remains higher than pre-war figures. An initial draft of the amendment had proposed shortening the maximum waiting period for judicial review to 33 days for adults and 25 days for minors, according to the state.

As of late April 2026, the Israeli Defense Forces and Israel Prison Service had detained 1,358 individuals under the law. Four minors were included in this total. Of these, 26 were held under temporary incarceration orders, and 1,332 were held under permanent incarceration orders. Between December 22, 2025, and April 23, 2026, approximately 141 new temporary incarceration orders were issued. During the same period, approximately 114 detainees were released.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel reported that more than 6,000 detainees, primarily from Gaza, have been held under the amended framework since its implementation. Over 40 percent of those detainees were released without formal charges. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel also stated that at least 50 detainees held under the law had not received judicial review by the end of April 2026. Merav Ben-Zeev, director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel's legal department, stated that the court order, along with a recent ruling on Red Cross visits, indicates a necessity to terminate the temporary detention provisions. She added that the detention framework permits incarceration without indictment, judicial review, or access to legal representation. Ben-Zeev argued that restricting external contact and judicial oversight poses risks to detainees' physical and mental health.