The Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs Authority said on Monday that the Israeli occupation forces are exploiting the war on the Gaza Strip to unilaterally torture and abuse female prisoners, in light of the blackout over the prison situation and the prevention of lawyers and families of female prisoners from visiting them.

The Commission revealed the details of the storming of Damoun Prison last Tuesday with a large force of prison guards carrying batons, gas bombs, and weapons in their hands, and emptying the contents of the rooms. When the female prisoners objected to this, “they were beaten and some of them were isolated, in addition to flooding the rooms with gas bombs, without taking into account the minors, the elderly, and the sick.”

The Prisoners' Authority pointed out that this comes in light of the severe retaliatory measures to which female prisoners have been subjected for more than two weeks, noting the recent escalation of the arrest campaign under the pretext of incitement and activity on social media sites, bringing the number of female prisoners to about 50 currently in Damoun Prison.

Mounting arrests

For its part, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club revealed that the occupation forces launched an arrest campaign in the West Bank last night and at dawn on Monday, including at least 85 Palestinians. This campaign has escalated in an unprecedented way since October 7, the date the resistance factions in Gaza launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” in response to the multiple violations of the Israeli occupation, which launches intense raids on Gaza that left thousands of martyrs and wounded.

The Commission and the Prisoners' Club stated that the occupation is pursuing a policy of arrest, threats, and beatings against detainees and their families, and vandalizing citizens' homes, noting that arrests have exceeded 6,500 since the beginning of this year.