Attorneys for a group of hunger strikers said the detainees might be persuaded through such discussions to resume eating and drinking. The inmates have pledged to starve themselves to death unless they are released or brought to trial after more than three years at the U.S. facility in Cuba.

Terry Henry, an attorney for the Department of Justice, told U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler that one relative tried sending a detainee a DVD that named various people who had died or were in jail, raising concerns about whether some kind of message was being sent. The disc was not cleared and not delivered to the detainee.

"There are all kinds of security issues there," Henry said.

Henry also suggested the government didn't have the resources to monitor detainee phone calls.

Lawyers for the hunger strikers, who allege inhumane and cruel treatment at the camp, also are seeking more frequent access to their clients and copies of their medical records. Some of the detainees have been fasting since Aug. 8.

Henry dismissed such allegations of abuse as "storytelling and misunderstanding."

As of late Thursday, 24 detainees were rejecting food and drink, Henry said. Seven were hospitalized and being force-fed through nose-to-stomach tubes. Some of the other 17 detainees also weren't eating or drinking, but were in a special cell block and were not yet being fed against their will, he said.

Julia Tarver, the lawyer for a group of 10 Saudi Arabian detainees, said 20 to 30 terror suspects were being force-fed. Lawyers also appeared in court on behalf of five detainees from Yemen and one from Qatar.

At Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. military holds about 500 detainees suspected of terrorist activities.

Kessler, whose questions at times sounded skeptical of each side's argument, adjourned the emergency hearing without saying when she would issue a decision. Lawyers have until Wednesday to file additional motions in the case.