49 Palestinian women held in Israeli prisons: PLO

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Israel is holding 49 Palestinian women in detention camps, according to a Palestinian commission on Wednesday.

“Half of the detained women are mothers,” the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-run Commission for Detainees and ex-Detainees’ Affairs said in a statement.

It said six women had been shot and injured while being arrested by Israeli forces.

According to the commission, Israeli forces have arrested over 16,000 Palestinian women since 1967.

This year, the commission said, Israeli forces used “brutal methods” while arresting Palestinian women.

“In most occasions, women are arrested from their homes at the dead of night, beaten and subjected to harsh treatment and exposed to physical and psychological torture while in custody,” it added.

The Israeli army frequently carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.

According to Palestinian figures, more than 6,000 Palestinians continue to languish in Israeli detention facilities, including parliament members, women minors.