Number of Palestinian Female Detainees in Occupation Prisons Rises to 53 Women

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society
September 9, 2025 

Ramallah, occupied Palestine – The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) stated that over the past few days, Israeli occupation forces arrested five women, some of whom have been subjected to interrogation, bringing the total number of female prisoners to 53 women, including two abducted from the Gaza Strip. That number does not include all of the women arrested from Gaza.  

The PPS explained that since the start of the genocide in Gaza, the occupation has been targeting Palestinian women through arrests at unprecedented rates, with over 590 arrests recorded since then. The majority of female prisoners are held in Damon Prison, while others are detained in interrogation and detention centers, where they face dire conditions, including various forms of abuse and deprivation.

Human rights organizations have recently documented unprecedented violations against female political prisoners, starting from the moment of arrest, through the interrogation period, then their transfer to HaSharon Prison as a temporary holding facility, and ultimately to their detention in Damon Prison, where they are subjected to starvation and violent suppression. The women are also denied contact with their children and families due to a visitation ban imposed since the start of the genocide, which has significantly worsened their psychological suffering, especially as many require special medical care.

According to the PPS, the policies against the female detainees include torture, physical and psychological abuse, systematic humiliation, and strip searches—considered one of the most severe forms of sexual assault—along with solitary confinement, the use of female detainees as hostages to pressure family members, starvation, and denial of medical treatment. These violations have been documented in the testimonies of the prisoners themselves.

Based on recent lawyers’ visits, detainees reported that the Damon prison administration carries out almost daily violent raids against them. One prisoner was assaulted under the pretext of chanting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) during evening prayers. The prison authorities used police dogs during these crackdowns, after handcuffing the detainees and forcing them to kneel. Detainees were subjected to several large-scale raids during the month of August.

The PPS also stated that the occupation, using its repressive military laws, has increasingly targeted women under arbitrary charges of "incitement" on social media. This has become one of the main pretexts for escalating arrests since the beginning of the genocide. This vague allegation has been used broadly against various segments of Palestinian society as a way to stifle free expression and intensify surveillance and control, effectively amounting to another form of administrative detention – or detention without trial or charge. Some female detainees have been placed under administrative detention based on so-called “secret files.”

The PPS renewed its call on the international human rights system to take effective action to hold Israeli occupation leaders accountable for their ongoing war crimes against the Palestinian people, and to impose sanctions that would clearly isolate the occupation on the international stage. It urged a reassessment of the fundamental role of the international human rights system and an end to the shocking paralysis that has accompanied the genocide. The impunity granted to the occupation must be ended.