The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said that Israel is detaining 82 Palestinian women, including 38 mothers, in its prisons in extremely difficult conditions, including insults, violations of privacy, and the practice of abuse and torture.
Media officer at the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Amani Sarhaneh, said that female prisoners are being held in Damon Prison, Hasharon crossing, interrogation centers, and camps.
She explained that among the female prisoners are 8 from the Gaza Strip, and that this number is not final, as the institutions specialized in prisoners’ affairs do not have any knowledge of their number in the camps. Sarhana called for international intervention to know the conditions of prisoners in the Gaza Strip, especially women.
Among the female prisoners, according to Farajna, are 38 mothers, including Fatima Al-Shamali, the mother of the martyr Uday Abu Jahisha, two minor girls, and three female prisoners who have been detained since before October 7, 2023.
The media officer at the Prisoner’s Club says that Israel has transferred 25 female prisoners to administrative detention (without charge).
She pointed out that Israel carried out 290 arrests of women after October 7 in the West Bank, including the city of East Jerusalem, from the territories occupied in 1948 (Israel), and from Gaza women who were arrested from the West Bank.
She estimated the number of detained women from the Gaza Strip at dozens, explaining that Israel continues to commit the crime of enforced disappearance against them.
She pointed out that female prisoners are subjected to torture and attacks at various levels, which have escalated after last October 7.
She said that Israel deliberately detained women as hostages to put pressure on their targeted husbands or children, and detained them in very harsh and difficult conditions.
The lawyer of the Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs Authority was able to visit Damoun Prison and met with a number of female prisoners there who conveyed the extent of the daily suffering imposed on them, their exposure to insults, violation of privacy, and the practice of abuse, torture, and revenge against them.
Cursing and insults
A report by the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission of the Palestine Liberation Organization revealed last Thursday that Palestinian female prisoners live in a state of isolation, and are singled out by male and female jailers.
The statement explained that the female prisoners are constantly subjected to insults and insults, and that they are cut off from the outside world due to the withdrawal of television and radio equipment and the prohibition of the entry of newspapers, and there is constant work to influence their psychology.
The report indicated that the punishments imposed on prisoners after October 7 included female prisoners, as all electrical appliances were confiscated, food quantities were reduced to less than the minimum, in addition to its poor quality, the closure of the canteen (the prison shop), the prevention of family visits, and a shortage of clothes, blankets, and feminine supplies. Intentionally contaminating drinking water, and restricting the hours of rest and showering.
The prison administration beat and tortured them, deliberately tied their hands and feet, and brutally blindfolded them during their interrogation, when they went out to the clinic, to visit a lawyer, or when they were transferred. They subjected them to strip searches, threatened them with rape, pulled their hair, dragged them to the ground, and used mobile phones to photograph them while they were in difficult and painful situations, according to the statement.
On April 23, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, reported that information verified by the United Nations indicated that the arrests and detention of Palestinian women and men by Israeli security forces following the October 7 attacks were often accompanied by Beatings, ill-treatment and humiliation, including sexual violence.