Israeli Forces Arrested Her at 2 A.M. Now She’s Describing What Happened Next

Israeli soldiers stormed Samah Hajawi’s family home at two o’clock in the morning, assaulting family members and ransacking the house before taking her into custody. Days later, she has given her first account of what followed.

Hajawi described the raid as brutal. Speaking through a lawyer from the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, she said soldiers bound her hands and moved her between multiple interrogation centers under conditions designed to exhaust her. She was subjected to intrusive and degrading body searches from the moment of her arrest, practices she said are part of a deliberate strategy to break female prisoners psychologically and physically.

The Commission released her account on Monday, calling on international human rights organizations to intervene.

Hajawi’s case reflects broader patterns the Commission has documented among female Palestinian prisoners. Women in Israeli detention face violent nighttime raids and invasive cell searches. Authorities confiscate personal items and block families from sending clothing and basic necessities. Cells are severely overcrowded, sanitation is inadequate, and medical care is either denied outright or delayed until conditions worsen.

Female prisoners are also held in solitary confinement and subjected to prolonged interrogation sessions the Commission describes as punitive measures intended to break their resistance.

The Commission said these practices violate international law and human rights conventions, and called for accountability.