Among those detained are three girls and three pregnant women, as reports of abuse, starvation, and medical neglect continue to mount
IN recent weeks, the Israelis have escalated the detention of women in the West Bank while intensifying the assault on Palestinian women detained in their notorious rape and torture dungeons.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) on Monday stated that detention operations and the targeting of women in the West Bank are witnessing a continuous and unprecedented escalation, noting that the number of female detainees in the occupation’s dungeons has risen to 95, a figure previously recorded during the peak of the ongoing Gaza genocide.
The PPS explained that this increase followed the arrest by occupation forces at dawn on Monday of three women from Kobar, northwest of Ramallah; Jenin; and the Ain refugee camp in Nablus, including the wife of a prisoner. Last week, occupation forces also detained four female students from Birzeit University, including one recent graduate, all of whom were transferred to the Moskobiya detention centre, in addition to a young woman from Ramallah who suffers from a motor disability.
Of the four women arrested at Birzeit University, Rand al-Halwani, a football player on the Palestinian women’s national team, was released later. However, the other three students from the university, including Rand’s teammate Natalie Abu Dia, remain in detention.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society added that the data and testimonies received regarding violations committed against female detainees have exceeded, in both scale and severity, those recorded at any previous stage, owing to the escalation of systematic repression operations accompanied by severe beatings, as well as ongoing practices of abuse and humiliation.
The PPS collected numerous testimonies from legal visits that revealed a marked escalation in beatings and solitary confinement, in addition to recorded violations of a sexual nature, particularly verbal harassment, strip searches, and the imposition of degrading and dangerous physical positions that compromise the physical safety of detainees during repression operations and cell raids.
Some testimonies indicated that detainees were forced to lie on their stomachs with their hands tied behind their backs before being assaulted, practices that constitute cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment that violates human dignity.
The PPS added that recent months have seen an escalation in the use of solitary confinement as a punitive measure, with dozens of cases recorded. Some detainees have been subjected to repeated and systematic solitary confinement at close intervals, accompanied by further abusive and humiliating measures.
Inadequate Food
Apart from physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, the Israelis are also depriving Palestinian detainees of adequate food. All detainees released from the Israeli dungeons have borne marks of physical deprivation, having lost several kilograms in body weight. Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who was recently transferred to solitary confinement, has been reported to have lost 40 kg since his abduction in December 2024.
The food situation continues to worsen. The detainees are also deprived of medical attention, even when suffering from chronic conditions.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society confirmed that no improvement has occurred in the food provided to detainees, as the policy of starvation remains in place and conditions continue to worsen amid the growing number of detainees. They continue to be deprived of their right to medical treatment, healthcare, and necessary medical follow-up, particularly those suffering from chronic illnesses and health conditions that require ongoing care.
It added that the continued prevention of detainees from communicating with their families, along with the denial of family visits, has exacerbated their psychological suffering, especially for mothers and minor detainees, under conditions that grow harsher day by day. — Palestine Will Be Free
