Female Prisoners Rise to 59
The Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies confirmed that as Israeli occupation authorities continue to target Palestinian women and girls with arrests and abuse, the number of female prisoners in occupation prisons has recently risen to 59, all held under harsh and difficult conditions.
The Center explained that occupation authorities have dramatically escalated arrests of Palestinian women since October 7, with more than 680 cases targeting all age groups, including minors. These figures confirm the intensive targeting of a group afforded special protection under international law.
Center director Riyad al-Ashqar said the number of female prisoners does not include women detained from the Gaza Strip during the genocide, as the occupation practices a policy of enforced disappearance against them. Currently, no female prisoner from Gaza is held in Damon Prison. The occupation holds them in special military camps with no oversight of any kind, where all forms of visits are prohibited. The true number of female detainees from Gaza remains unknown. The occupation released several female prisoners in recent weeks whose fate had been unknown, confirming that additional prisoners exist whose names and places of detention the occupation is concealing.
Al-Ashqar revealed that despite the release of dozens of female prisoners during the latest prisoner exchange deal between the resistance and the occupation, carried out in three stages, which brought the number of female prisoners down to just three in November 2023, the continued policy of arresting women has pushed the number back up to 59. Among them are two prisoners with cancer, two minors, and a nursing mother who gave birth in prison. Three of the women have been detained since before the genocide.
Al-Ashqar identified the most recently arrested women over the past two days: freed prisoner Wafa Abu Ghulma from Nablus, wife of prisoner Ahed Abu Ghulma, who is serving a life sentence and has been detained since 2006 as one of those who carried out the assassination of Israeli occupation tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi; Dhikra Rafat Nasser from Nablus; and Maha al-Rifai from Anata in occupied Jerusalem, who was charged with incitement. The women from Nablus were arrested after their homes were raided and their contents destroyed before they were transferred to interrogation. Prior to these arrests, freed journalist Bushra al-Tawil from al-Bireh was detained while passing through the Ein Sinya military checkpoint north of Ramallah.
The occupation has also arrested Palestinian women as a tool of blackmail and pressure to force their sons to turn themselves in. The most recent case was the arrest of Sara Hammad from Qalandia camp north of Jerusalem to pressure her son, Jihad Hammad, into surrendering to the occupation on the grounds that he is wanted.
Al-Ashqar noted that the occupation deliberately arrests Palestinian women after midnight, storming their homes violently amid children’s cries and family members’ attempts to stop unjustified arrests. Homes are ransacked under the pretext of searches. The women’s hands are bound, their eyes blindfolded, and they are transported in military vehicles to interrogation centers, where they are beaten, verbally abused, and subjected to degrading treatment before being transferred to Damon Prison.
Al-Ashqar pointed out that the sole charge the occupation uses to justify arresting the majority of Palestinian women and subjecting them to harsh and degrading detention and interrogation conditions is “incitement,” a vague charge that occupation intelligence levels against most female prisoners without presenting specific evidence to justify the arrest. For this reason, approximately one-third of the female prisoners have been placed under administrative detention.
The occupation continues to detain two prisoners with cancer under harsh health and living conditions despite the severity of their illnesses: Fida Suhail Assaf, 54, from Qalqilya, arrested in February and suffering from blood cancer; and Suhair Sharif Zaaqiq, who has fibroid cancer and has been placed under administrative detention without charge despite her illness.
Al-Ashqar stated that female prisoners in occupation prisons endure inhumane conditions and are denied all rights guaranteed by international conventions. The occupation enforces a policy of retaliation against them, carrying out every form of abuse and deprivation. The food provided is severely inadequate in both quantity and quality, causing illness and physical deterioration among the prisoners.
Al-Ashqar added that the occupation violates the prisoners’ privacy by installing surveillance cameras throughout the prison, including the recreation yard and corridors. Raids on cells are carried out suddenly and without prior notice, forcing the women to sleep fully clothed. During these raids, prisoners are restrained, subjected to obscene verbal abuse, and have personal clothing confiscated. They are sometimes beaten and tear-gassed. The occupation also places prisoners in solitary confinement on baseless pretexts.
The Palestine Center called on international organizations concerned with women’s rights to intervene urgently to protect Palestinian women from arbitrary arrests that have escalated sharply over the past two years outside any legal framework, to stop the multiple crimes committed against female prisoners in occupation prisons, and to work toward their release, particularly those held under administrative detention without charge.
