The Prisoners’ Information Office affiliated with the Hamas movement has reported that Palestinian female prisoners in Israel’s Damon Prison have been subjected to what it described as “brutal” abuse. These abuses included “forcibly removing their hijabs and beating them,” as part of a series of repeated attacks that began at the start of December and resulted in injuries to a number of the detainees.
In a statement, the Prisoners’ Information Office said that these actions fall within the framework of a “dangerous and ongoing escalation” against female prisoners in Damon Prison and constitute a “clear violation of all humanitarian laws and norms.” The statement added: “The prisoners were forcibly taken to the outdoor yard and made to sit on the ground; their hijabs were torn off, and in addition to the use of dogs and stun grenades, they were beaten.”
According to the newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the office emphasized that among these detainees are Palestinian women who were injured as a result of four consecutive repetitions of these violent attacks during the month of December. The office held Israel fully responsible for the safety of the prisoners and warned against the “continuation of this repressive approach.” It also called on human rights and international organizations to take urgent action to stop these escalating violations against female prisoners in Damon Prison.
In a related report, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights documented in November cases of abuse suffered by one of the female prisoners in Israeli prisons. The center quoted the former detainee, after her release, as revealing that she had been subjected repeatedly to sexual violence and, during her detention, was forced to strip and be filmed. In its report, the center also exposed what it described as the “spread of sexual torture in a systematic and organized manner, including rape, forced stripping, forced filming, and sexual assault using tools and dogs,” by Israeli occupation forces.
According to Palestinian and Israeli legal reports, Israel is holding more than 9,300 Palestinian prisoners in detention, including children and women, all of whom suffer from torture, starvation, and medical neglect, to the extent that the suffering has led to the death of some of them. It is noteworthy that crimes committed by Israel against prisoners have intensified in parallel with the genocidal war in Gaza, which began in October 2023 and has so far resulted in the killing of around 71,000 people and the injury of more than 171,000—most of them women and children.
alaraby