90 Palestinian women held in Israeli prisons, rights group says

Israel is holding 90 Palestinian women in its prisons, where they face hunger, abuse and strip searches, a prisoners’ affairs group said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said most of the women are detained at Damon prison in northern Israel, including two minors.

The detainees include a pregnant woman, 25 administrative detainees held without charge, three journalists, and two cancer patients.

The group said the detained women face harsh conditions, including hunger, deprivation, medical neglect, abuse, solitary confinement and assaults, including strip searches.

Most arrests are carried out on allegations of incitement, the group said, adding that more than 700 women have been detained since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, mainly in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with no clear data available for arrests in Gaza.

The group said the escalation comes during one of the deadliest periods for Palestinian women, citing continued violations including physical and sexual assaults and the detention of women as leverage against their families.

On April 14, the Prisoners Society, Addameer and the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said in a joint statement that more than 9,600 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons as of early April, including 86 women and about 350 children.

Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, attacks by the Israeli army and occupiers in the West Bank have killed at least 1,133 Palestinians, wounded about 11,700 others and led to nearly 22,000 arrests, according to Palestinian figures.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Lina Altawell in Istanbul