A Palestinian prisoners’ rights group has highlighted the “extremely difficult” conditions under which female prisoners are being held in Israel’s Damon prison, especially those detained from the Gaza Strip.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission said “The prisoners are facing extremely difficult detention conditions and are subjected to intensified punishments that are increasing daily,” since October 7.
It said the occupation forces launched a far-reaching arrest campaign “in the West Bank, Al-Quds, the occupied interior, and Gaza, against our female prisoners.”
“All of whom were subjected to torture and abuse from the moment of arrest until entering prison, whether through beating and insults, or naked searches, along with solitary confinement and deprivation of basic rights.”
The group said detainees from the Gaza Strip were deliberately subjected to the worst treatment.
One of the detainees relayed that an 80-year-old woman from Gaza arrived at the prison “walking with a cane and without a head cover (scarf).”
“Her body and clothes were covered in blood, and she seemed to know nothing, apparently suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.”
Forced to Abandon Their Children on the Street
Another detainee from Gaza recounted how she was arrested while she had her four young children in her care.
“Not knowing what to do with them, she handed them to a man from Gaza near her, not knowing who he was, and left them without knowing their fate. Others also left their children on the street when they were arrested,” the statement said.
All female prisoners from Gaza had their clothes confiscated and replaced with summer clothes.
They recounted difficult days before arriving at Damon prison, saying they “faced a lot of beating and assault in addition to continuous insults and curses.”
Some of them were left for seven days outdoors, in the rain and cold.
Hundreds of Palestinians who were detained in Gaza during the ongoing Israel’s invasion of the besieged Strip have been held for weeks at a detention facility in southern Israel, where several of them have died under unclear circumstances, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on… pic.twitter.com/Dv1d4y691g
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 18, 2023
“All female prisoners from the Strip arrived at the prison in a pitiable state, from all health, physical, and psychological” points of view, the statement stressed.
The rights group said “the testimonies represent only a very small part of what we could access, and what is hidden is greater.”
It said the prison administration deliberately isolates the female prisoners of Gaza from other prisoners and from the outside world entirely, in order “to continue committing its crimes without accountability or oversight.”
In November, the head of the group, Qadura Fares, told CNN that around 8,300 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in Israeli jails.
He reportedly said more than 3,000 of them are being held in what Israel calls “administrative detention.” This, he explained, means they are being held without knowing the charges against them, and without an ongoing legal process.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
