Israel Jails 89 Palestinian Women After 4 Students Detained in West Bank

Two women in Gaza sort clothes outside their makeshift shelter. (Hosny salah-Pexels)

JAKARTA - The number of Palestinian women imprisoned by Israel has increased to 89 following the arrest of 4 female students in the West Bank on Tuesday morning, June 2.

The human rights organization concerned with the fate of the injustice of detained citizens, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society, revealed that they were detained without charges or trials including two women suffering from cancer, three minors, and three pregnant women, as well as 19 administrative detainees.

On Tuesday morning, June 2, Israeli forces raided a house in Birzeit City and detained Natalie Abu Diya and Joulan Abu Awwad.

They also arrested Laila Khalil from Beitunia and another unidentified woman. The four are students enrolled at Birzeit University, about 24 miles north of Ramallah in the West Bank.

Most Palestinian women detained by Israel are held in Damon Prison, near the coastal city of Haifa.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society, both Palestinian men and women detained in Israel face a high level of threat of violence, starvation, medical negligence, isolation, assault, humiliating searches, and severe overcapacity with some forced to sleep on the floor.

Based on the report compiled by the organization, Israeli forces have detained more than 760 Palestinian women since the start of the Zionist military operation in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

During the same period, Israel detained a total of 23,000 people in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Most were later released.

The Palestinian Prisoner's Society added that as many as 9,400 Palestinian prisoners currently in Israeli jails are victims of gross violations, including beatings, intimidation of relatives, and destruction of their homes.

Since Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli jails, according to a report published by the United Nations in 2023.