CAT/C/ISR/CO/5 Hunger strikes 26. While taking note of the affirmation by the delegation that hunger strikes are handled with the utmost sensitivity to the prisoners’ rights, the Committee is concerned at allegations of instances in which prisoners who engaged in hunger strikes were punished or subjected to ill-treatment. It is also concerned that, on 30 July 2015, the Knesset passed the Amendment to the Prisons Ordinance Law (Prevention of the harm caused by hunger strikes), which, according to the information provided to the Committee, allows the President of the District Court or his/her Deputy to authorize, under certain conditions, medical treatment of hunger strikers, including feeding, without their consent. While taking note that to date this amendment has not been applied and that its validity is currently under consideration by the Supreme Court, the Committee considers that feeding against the will of persons deprived of liberty on hunger strike who are able to take informed decisions would constitute ill-treatment in violation of the Convention (art. 16). 27. The State party should guarantee that persons deprived of liberty who engage in hunger strikes are never subjected to ill-treatment or punished for engaging in a hunger strike and are provided with necessary medical care in accordance with their wishes. It should also take the legislative and other measures necessary to ensure that persons deprived of liberty, competent to take informed decisions, who engage in hunger strikes are never subjected to feeding or other medical treatment against their will, as these are practices that may amount to torture or ill-treatment. Juvenile detainees 28. While taking note of the provisions of the Youth Law (Trial Punishment and Modes of Treatment) 5731-1971 relating to the arrest and detention of minors and of positive developments in the juvenile military justice system applicable in the West Bank, including the establishment of a juvenile military court in 2009, the increase of the age of majority from 16 to 18 years for the purposes of adjudication in 2011 and other measures providing for safeguards and guarantees for minors, the Committee is concerned at reports that such legal developments are not always implemented in practice, in particular with respect to Palestinian minors accused of security-related offences. In this respect, it is concerned at allegations of many instances in which Palestinian minors were exposed to torture or illtreatment, including to obtain confessions; were given confessions to sign in Hebrew, a language they do not understand; and were interrogated in the absence of a lawyer or a family member. The Committee is also concerned that many of these children, like many other Palestinians, are deprived of liberty in facilities located in Israel, thus hindering access to visits of relatives who live in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Committee is further concerned that at the time of the dialogue there were 12 minors in administrative detention and 207 Palestinian minors residents of the West Bank in detention for securityrelated offences (arts. 2, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16). 29. Recalling its previous recommendation (CAT/C/ISR/CO/4, para. 28), the Committee calls upon the State party to redouble its efforts with a view to: (a) Ensuring that the deprivation of liberty of minors, irrespective of the charges brought against them, is a last resort, limited to the shortest possible period, and that it is reviewed daily with a view to eliminating it; (b) Systematically ensuring that all minors deprived of liberty are afforded all the basic legal safeguards from the very outset of the deprivation of liberty; that they have a lawyer and/or a trusted adult present at every phase of the proceeding, including during interrogations; and that evidence obtained without observing these provisions are inadmissible in court; 6 GE.16-08992