Female Palestinian prisoners shared harrowing stories. Photo: via WAFA.
Female Palestinian detainees have shared testimonies of gross violations at the hands of Israeli prison guards including beatings and strip searches, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
The organization said on Thursday that they obtained testimonies from the detainees of their treatment during their transfer to the Hasharon prison in northern Israel, the Anadolu news agency reports.
“Upon our arrival, other prisoners and I were placed in a cell filled with water, and it had a toilet that was not suitable for use. Then we were transferred to another cell,” one of the detainees said.
The detainee added that “we were subjected to strip searches by women guards, and one of the guards hit me in my face after I had already been brutally beaten during my arrest.”
The organization said Israel is currently holding 90 women detainees in its prisons, with 50 of them from Gaza detained in very harsh conditions, the report adds.
PALESTINIAN FEMALE PRISONERS SUBJECTED TO SYSTEMATIC TORTURE AND BRUTALITY IN ISRAELI JAILS
for more: https://t.co/fKpXJbEog3 pic.twitter.com/GPoXUFXyND— WCLAC Palestine مركز المرأة للإرشاد القانوني (@WclacPalestine) January 20, 2024
‘This is Not Your Country, Leave’
In another testimony, a prisoner said three women guards “treated me very brutally and humiliatingly.”
“They insulted me with the worst words all the time without stopping, forced me to walk while my limbs were restrained and with a blindfold over my eyes, and during my transfer, one woman guard kept saying ‘This is not your country. Leave.’”
She added that a group of women prisoners detained on the same night “underwent a strip search upon entering a cell, and after being taken out one by one, they tied our hands and legs.”
Other testimonies were that “in the prison corridor, there is a cell with an open window, and the cold air is unbearable, especially at night.”
Israel Collapsing at All Levels, Committing Gravest Crimes Against Humanity: Palestinian Resistance
“The mattresses and blankets are not suitable for use because they are dirty and have a very foul odor, and anyone standing at the cell door can see those using the bathroom.”
The testimonies also indicated that “there is no privacy for the women prisoners, in addition to the proximity of the cells to those of civilian prisoners who shout all the time.”
🚨BREAKING: PALESTINIAN DETAINEE'S TESTMONIES FOR TORTURE & STRIP SEARCHES
The Prisoners' Club said that the Palestinian female detainees are subjected to severe beatings and naked searches, especially after being transferred to the so-called Hasharon prison crossing, based on… pic.twitter.com/OOL0EcbRZ5
— Suppressed Voice (@SuppressedNws) January 25, 2024
Increased Abuse Since October 7
According to the organization, the testimonies of male and female prisoners indicate that torture and abuse are ongoing, escalating and unprecedented since the start of Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year.
The prisoner organizations warned of the systematic arrest campaigns carried out by Israel against Palestinians, reports Anadolu.
These arrests are accompanied by “wide-ranging invasion and torture operations, brutal beatings and threats to prisoners and their families as well as field investigation operations, sabotage and the destruction of citizens’ homes and shooting with the aim of killing.”
In January, the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission 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 it said the detainees “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.”
In this special report, the Palestine Chronicle documents the collective hardship experienced by Gaza’s female prisoners in Israel; unprecedented even within the tragic history of Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
