Supreme Court Justice Eliyahu Matza said there was no legal basis for practices that included violent shaking of prisoners, depriving them of sleep and forcing them into painful positions for long periods.

The court ruled on appeals by several Israeli human rights groups and Palestinian detainees against the Shin Bet interrogation methods.

Israel's most prominent human rights lawyer, Leah Tsemel, said outside the court: "It took 30 years of human rights abuse to get to this."

"It will stop torture and make Israel abide by international law."

Previous Israeli governments defended what was termed "moderate physical pressure" on prisoners to obtain information about planned anti-Israeli attacks.

The court has until now refrained from ruling on the legality of Shin Bet's interrogation techniques.