Detainees marking 10 years in Israeli prison

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The Detainees Ministry in Gaza reported Wednesday that detainee Sana Shihadeh, 35, from Shu’fat refugee camp in Jerusalem has marked 10 years in Israeli detention.

Another detainee, Irina Paula Sarhaneh, 36, is also marking 10 years.

The ministry reported that Sana is sentenced to life at Hasharon prison and has teeth problems. The prison administration refuses to provide her with treatment for a dental problem, the ministry says. Her father suffers from cancer and she is afraid that her father will die without seeing her.

Detainee Irina is originally from Ukraine. She married a Palestinian called Ibrahim Sarhaneh and they lived in Ad-Duheisheh refugee camp. She was sentenced to 20 years on accusations of helping her husband transfer a suicide bomber to attack Rishon Litsion. Her husband was sentenced to life.

Irina has two daughters. One lives with her grandmother in Ukraine and the other daughter lives in Al-Duheisheh refugee camp with her grandparents.

IPS refuses to free a Palestinian mother despite court order

[ 18/05/2011 - 10:26 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Israeli prison service (IPS) has refused to release a detained Palestinian mother of six despite a court order to the effect, the Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights said. Fuad Al-Khafsh, the Ahrar director, added in a statement on Tuesday that Samha Hijaz, 37, was detained while on her way to visit her two detained brothers Yasser, who is serving a life sentence, and Hisham, who is serving 10 life sentences. He said that Samha, from the Ramallah village of Mazra Sharqiya, was detained on 8 February 2011 and charged with planning to smuggle mobile phones to her brothers. Samha categorically denied the charge but was kept by the Israeli intelligence in custody and was subjected to cruel interrogation rounds then taken to prison with homicide convicts before being transferred to Hasharon jail. Khafsh said that an Israeli military court decided last Sunday that Samha should be released but the IPS refused. The Ahrar director urged human rights groups and international organizations to demand the release of Samha without any further delay and let her return to her husband and six children.

Palestinian women prisoners shackled during childbirth

Qassam

14-03-2011,12:52

Mehru Jaffer

Female Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel are often denied legal representation and medical care while being housed in squalid conditions that can include sharing cells with rodents.

According to Fabrizia Falcione, a women's human rights officer for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), now part of UN WOMEN, told IPS that it is crucial to reveal the human face behind this breach of international law and international humanitarian law in order to address the plight of Palestinian political prisoners, including women and children.

Since 1967, more than 700,000 Palestinians have been arrested or detained in Israeli prisons and detention centers. Approximately 10,000 of these prisoners were women.

Today, 37 female Palestinian prisoners continue to be held in Israeli prisons -- out of a total of about 7,500 inmates. The reason is primarily political -- most of the prisoners are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Falcione's work includes providing legal aid and representation to female prisoners, psychosocial support to family members of prisoners, and preparation for release and reintegration of prisoners into family and society.

This week Falcione participated in the first international meeting of its kind organized by the United Nations to focus on the question of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention. During the two-day meet she took time out to talk to IPS about the absolute urgency of specifically addressing the rights of female prisoners.

IPS: What are the most immediate concerns for Palestinian women prisoners in Israeli prisons today?

Fabrizia Falcione: The situation of Palestinian women and minors in Israeli detention facilities is bad. In terms of numbers, Palestinian female political prisoners and detainees in Israel prisons almost disappear compared to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian male political prisoners. But the plight of female prisoners is worse than the men.

The situation, condition and violations faced by women in jails in Israel needs to be addressed from a gender perspective. At present the number of women prisoners is considerably lower than before, but women and girls continue to be arrested, their special needs continue to be neglected and their rights violated.

IPS: You talk of physical and psychological problems faced by female prisoners. What do you mean?

FF: There is medical neglect and lack of specialized medical services for the prevention and treatment of illnesses of women.

The female prisoners at present are mainly incarcerated in two Israeli facilities in Hasharon and Damon -- both of them located outside the occupied [West Bank and Gaza Strip], in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Former Palestinian female prisoners in both these prisons and family members of women currently in prison say that the cells are infested with insects, particularly cockroaches as well as rodents. A former inmate released a few months ago said, "No matter how hard I try to describe the cell to you, I cannot. It is like an underground grave ... There are so many insects in the cell, the mattresses and cover sheet were damp and smelled awful. Sewage was overflowing. I could barely make my ablutions to pray."

Beyond general healthcare there is no gynecological support. Women require medical attention regularly, which is their right during confinement as recognized by CEDAW [the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women].

The great majority of Palestinian women political prisoners in Israeli prisons suffer from various health problems.

IPS: Is it true that pregnant women are shackled during childbirth?

FF: It is true. Pregnant women are shackled while giving birth, and soon after. There is a total lack of medical care, particularly during childbirth. Women lament that infants born to them are taken away after two years. In Israeli prisons, the rights of Palestinian women prisoners is recognized, but not respected.

IPS: And the psychological concerns?

FF: Women bear the brunt of the infringement upon their cultural and religious rights. A former prisoner said, "They took away my jilbab [long dress] and gave me their special brown prisoner uniform. It was short sleeved. I asked for a long sleeved shirt that I could wear under the uniform. Again they refused. I moved between cells among male guards in a short-sleeved uniform ... what hurt me most were the insults they hurled at me."

Women's privacy is violated and male guards conduct room searches without any consideration for religious norms. Prisoners are counted four times a day, including very early in the morning, and punishment is inflicted if women are found asleep or do not reply immediately to the count.

The most troubling aspect is the denial of family visitation rights. Family visits to prisoners are allowed twice a month, theoretically, but are drastically restricted due to the fact that the prisons are outside the occupied Palestinian territory.

A round-trip visit to the prison is a ten-hour journey -- not only due to geographical distance but also because the movement of Palestinians in Israel is controlled. If families succeed in making the journey, they are allowed to visit for thirty minutes -- speaking through a thick glass divider that prevents any physical contact, even between mother and child. This affects the well-being of not just the mother but also the children. The break in family and social relations is severe on the psychological state of the women.

IPS: What exactly is the crime of these women?

FF Many women are imprisoned without trial for belonging to organizations banned by Israel, under the guise of protecting the national security of the state.

Untried Palestinian women political prisoners are detained in Neve Terza prison in the women's section allocated to convicted criminal offenders in clear violation of Rule 85 of the United Nations standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners that says "Untried prisoners shall be kept separate from convicted prisoners."

This allows Israeli prisoners to threaten and humiliate Palestinian women through verbal and physical abuse. Palestinian women prisoners and detainees are further prevented from using prison facilities like pens, reading material and recreational time.

Israel Criticized Over Renewed Detention of Palestinian Female Prisoner

Tuesday December 07, 2010 13:56 by Alessandra Bajec - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian human rights center Ahrar slammed Israel for renewing the administrative detention of Kifah Jibril just few hours before her scheduled release, the Palestinian Information Centre said.

(photo from uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com)

The director of Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights, Fuad al-Khafsh, stated on Monday night that the Israeli intelligence renewed the detention of Kifah, after four months of administrative custody without trial or charge.

Al-Khafsh also said that Kifah's detention was renewed for a similar period of time in spite of deterioration of her health condition, explaining that she was suffering from a rare disease which causes tightening of the arteries obstructing regular flow of blood to her limbs. Kifah is also believed to suffer from breathing difficulty.

The Ahrar Center held Israel fully responsible for the life of the Palestinian woman warning that she is in great danger. The center's director condemned the captivity, adding that she is one of the active social figures in Ramallah and el-Bireh.

Khafsh called upon international organizations and human rights groups to rapidly urge the immediate release of Kifah and provide her with the necessary medical treatment.

Kifah Jibril, from Ramallah, a mother of two children, has held in the Maskobeh detention center since 1 August of this year after being subjected to severe interrogation.

Rights group calls for immediate release of prisoner in critical condtion

[ 18/10/2010 - 01:03 PM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- The International Tadamun (Solidarity) Foundation for human rights said the Israeli prison authority continues to detain Kifah Awni Qatsh despite her critical health condition. Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher at the foundation, said that Qatsh, a sufferer of immunodeficiency, has developed a case similar to gangrene, that has begun to eat away at her hand. Several of her fingers were amputated due to lack of blood to the limbs. “Qatsh was diagnosed with severe narrowing of the limb arteries ten years back. The disease moved from her chest to the mouth and gums, causing her to lose some of her teeth. The disease then traveled to her limbs resulting in the amputation of her fingers. The prisoner has also sustained other illnesses, such as rheumatism, stomach ulcers, and a breathing crisis,” Beitawi added. The researcher called for the immediate release of Qatsh based on her health condition, which requires doubled attention, especially as the winter approaches, when her health is expected to worsen from the cold and lack of care. Qatsh, who is a wife and mother of one boy and a girl, was arrested from her home on August 1, 2010 before she was transferred to the Israeli Hasharon prison to serve 4 months of administrative detention.

Locals: Mother of newborn detained in Hebron

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained seven residents of the Hebron district on Monday, including a mother who gave birth 2 weeks ago, locals said.

Israeli soldiers detained Sajida Riziq Muhammad Al-Awawda, 20, at midday outside Hebron university, where she is a student of Islamic law. The Palestinian Prisoners' Society called for her immediate release as she gave birth by cesarean and still required medical attention. Her husband Mahmud Abu Hashem is in prison in Israel, the society said, and their new-born son has been left in the care of his grandmother.

Earlier Monday, soldiers raided Sa'ir village at dawn, and detained Nizar Hussein Al-Aramin, Raed Saket Jaradat, Jihad Khaled and Mahdi Jaradat after raiding their homes.

Forces also detained Iyad Al-Allami, a member of the Popular committee against the wall in Beit Ummar.

The men were taken to an unknown destination.

Locals said Israeli forces demolished a well in east of Hebron belonging to Wael Al-Rajabi, and arrested his 18-year-old son.

Requests for comment from the Israeli army were transferred to the Israeli Border Guard, the police's paramilitary unit.

Farawana: No one has the real number of political prisoners who have given birth in Israeli jails

14.10.09 - 11:29
Gaza / PNN – Abdel Nasser Ferwana was once a political prisoner himself.
This is not surprising considering that some 85 percent of Palestinian males spend at least some of the moments of their lives being detained by Israeli forces.
What sets apart Ferwana, however, is that he has dedicated his life to researching the issue, to presenting as much information as possible to the public and to advocating.
Today he is challenging the validity and accuracy of human rights organizations and medial outlets that claim only four to eight political prisoners have given birth in Israeli jails. The researcher, who has official ties to the Palestinian Authority, said today that no one has the exact number of prisoners who have given birth in Israeli prisons since 1967 until today.
The reason behind the discrepancy, Ferwana said today, is the lack of documentation published on the subject before the Al Aqsa Intifada. “The research just isn’t there,” the prisoners’ affairs official said on Wednesday. “Agencies and institutions must be concerned to adopt a comprehensive strategic plan to document this important part of history and the feminist movement.”
Ferwana himself has already issued a study entitled, “Children See, Despite the Darkness of the Light of Cells”, in January 2008. “Palestine behind Bars” has circumstances of the births and available date. Various media outlets have also published information on prison births as they occurred.
Ferwana noted, “The cases of the birth of prisoners during the Intifada have received more attention and more accurate documentation than those cases that have been in prison before the start of the second Intifada in September 2000, and therefore we always ask whether we are sure that the published and documented information in inclusive and correct. All organizations support the number of four cases since the Intifada, and an additional four, but we are certain there are more.”

Freed Palestinian woman speaks of “horrific mistreatment” in Israeli jails

Sumoud

by Khalid Amayreh

A recently freed Palestinian woman prisoner from Israeli jails has spoken of “horrific mistreatment” and “hair-raising episodes” in Israeli jails.

Sherine Sheikh Khalil, 24, was released from an Israeli jail in April, having spent six years on charges of resisting the decades-old Israeli military occupation of her country.

“They beat us, they kicked us, and they humiliated us. They treated us as if we were animals. It is really difficult to communicate to you the bestiality and savagery of their behaviour,” said the young activist from Khan Younis in central Gaza Strip.

Part of Sherine’s family, including her father and brothers and sisters, live in the West Bank town of Ramallah. However, the Israeli occupation regime decided to expel her to the Gaza Strip, apparently as an act of further punishment. Sherine holds the Gaza Strip residency.

“I’m happy that I’m free, but I wish I could see my family in Ramallah,” she said.

Sherine spoke of an entire regime of “provocations and punishments” that is constantly haunting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and dungeons who number more than 10,000.

Many of these prisoners are political activists, local politicians and community leaders held for years without charge or trials.

Human rights groups operating in the occupied territories (the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem) often call these prisoners “hostages” or “bargaining chips” used by Israel to wrest political concessions from the Islamic group Hamas, as well as the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Sherine said the latest reprisal Israel carried out against the prisoners took the form of transferring many of them into wards where Jewish female criminals were held.

“We are talking about people who are the lowest of the low. So, imagine yourself spending your days and nights with murderers, drug addicts, prostitutes, and all types of deviant people.”

She said she suspected that Israeli prison officials were conniving with the Jewish criminals to harm or at least harass Palestinian prisoners, something she said that happened on numerous occasions.

Asked what she thought was the most difficult period during her six-year incarceration, Sherine said there were “ups and downs” in the level of mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.

“It depends on the prison officials’ mood; sometimes they would storm our ward after midnight in order to frisk us. And this could be especially humiliating as this is done in full view of a male officer accompanying female wardens.

“You see the real motive behind this provocative act is just to humiliate us and torment us emotionally. They wanted to break our will and destroy our dignity. But, of course, we are stronger than all their virulent tactics.”

In 2003, then only 17, Sherine was convicted by an Israeli military court of taking part in an attempted abduction of a Jewish settler in the West Bank. However, she described the Israeli justice system as “a system of retribution and reprisal” rather than a “system of justice.”

“You can’t really speak about a genuine justice system in Israel. We are talking about a country that sanctions murder of non-Jews, theft of their property and demolition of their homes. It is a State that uses every conceivable extenuating circumstance to exonerate Jewish murderers of Palestinians while concocting all sorts of pretexts to condemn and incriminate Palestinians.”

Sherine said the Israeli was no more than a tool in the hands of the Israeli regime to inflict harm on the Palestinian people and give false legitimacy to the military occupation.

Sherine Sheikh Khalil has left behind dozens of other Palestinian female political prisoners, including children and mothers. Some of the mothers, she said, were forced to give birth in jail with their hands cuffed and feet fettered with shackles.

She said she was disturbed and saddened by the continued rift between Fatah and Hamas, adding that “this is undermining the prisoners’ moral.”

Abdul Nasser Farwana, the head of the Statistics Department of the Prisoners’ Ministry in Ramallah told Islamonline that Israel has lately been introducing “draconian measures” against the prisoners for the purpose of “exacting revenge.”

Some of these measures are directed specifically at Hamas supporters, but other prisoners, including those affiliated with Fatah and the Islamic Jihad, are being affected.

Farwana said persecution of Palestinian prisoners also include tightening of headscarves to the point of strangulation, which he said caused many Palestinian female inmates to faint.

A few years ago, Israel created the “Nachshon force” whose main task is to suppress and savage Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and detention centres.

The new Israeli government, headed by Benyamin Netanyahu, has admitted that harsher measures are being introduced against Palestinian prisoners, mainly in order to force Hamas to relax its conditions for the release of an Israeli occupation soldier captured by Palestinian guerillas near Gaza nearly three years ago.

The new measures include decreased food in both quality and quantity, denying the prisoners access to certain TV channels, confiscation of transistor radios, no books, less family visits, and deliberate medical negligence which has already led to the death of at least two prisoners.

Farwana said Israel had denied prisoners, especially Islamic-oriented inmates, access to al-Jazeera TV channel, effectively forcing them to watch al-Arabiya TV.

The latter is considered by many in the Arab world as very much hostile to Arab resistance groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Israel has also resorted to expelling Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.

Center for Prisoners' Studies reports on Gaza family denied prison visits, mother hasn't seen baby

25.04.09 - 12:59

Nablus / PNN – Eight children have not seen their mother in two years. The ninth was born in Israeli prison. Mother Fatma Azzak has not been able see him since his birth 15 months ago.

Over the phone from Tel Mond Prison 40 year old Azzak says she only knows her last child through photos. “What hurts me so much also is my son six year old son Suleiman. He was just four when I was put in prison, the age when he needs so much care and tenderness,” she tells her husband.

Mahmoud Azzak told the Center for Prisoners’ Studies that his wife being away is incredibly difficult.
Three times in seven months they were allowed telephone contact.

The Israeli prison administration has banned all visits for residents of the Gaza Strip, including the Azzak family, for over 20 months.

Husband Mahmoud says, “We are trying to rely on ourselves after the arrest, but I won’t hide from you that this is really hard. A major vacuum was left.” The Center for Prisoners’ Studies notes that the consequences are severe for the entire family.

Fatma Azzak said via telephone, “We’re calling the cries of distress to no avail. The prison administration banned all visits we thought letters would be a means of communication. Although we have sent dozens of letters through the Red Cross, they have not reached either of us. We are living in isolation here, just as the Gaza Strip is isolated.”

Ra’fat Hamduna, Director of the Center for Prisoners’ Studies, said that the issue of Palestinian political prisoners requires legal action against the Israeli authorities. It is the only possible means of obtaining a visit for the Azzak family, he said.

“Pressure must be put on the occupying state to free the captive and her child, and to ensure the needs of prisoners in general, including clothing, because the prevention of visits and communications is prohibited.”

Several hundred Palestinian women are among the 11,000 political prisoners currently being held by Israeli forces.

PPS releases a report on Palestinian detainees

Thursday April 16, 2009 01:35 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) issued a detailed report on the Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel as the Palestinian prepare for commemorating the Palestinian Prisoners Day on April 17. The report revealed that Israelis still holding 10500 Palestinians captive.

Image reprinted from www.qudsmedia.net

The PPS reported that detainee Nael Al Barghouthi entered his 33rd year in detention while additional 11 detainees spent more than 25 years in prison.

The PPS also said that 76 detainees are sentenced to life-terms, 59 female detainees are still imprisoned, and 630 detainees are imprisoned under administrative detention without charges or trial.

Abdullah Al Zaghari, head of the PPS in Bethlehem said that 1045 Palestinians from the Bethlehem district are imprisoned by Israel, including 320 who were sentenced by Israeli courts, 65 under administrative detention, 5 female detainees, and 651 still awaiting trial.

Al Zaghari added that Israel increased its violations and restrictions against the detainees after prisoner-swap talks failed to achieve a deal, and placed dozens of detainees in solitary confinement in addition to imposing high fines on dozens of detainees.

Israel also barred the detainees from their visitations rights as a sort of punishment after prisoner-swap talks failed.

Other violations against the detainees include breaking into their rooms and searching them, in addition to denying basic medical rights to sick and wounded detainees.

The PPS also reported that Israel is still holding the bodies of 20 Palestinians who died during attacks against Israeli targets and during suicide bombings.

The PPS said that in 72 Palestinian detainees died in Israeli prisons during the Al Aqsa Intifada which started in late September 2000, and that the total number of detainees who died in Israeli prisons arrived to 195.

Palestinian researcher, specialized in detainees’ affairs, Abdul-Nasser Farwana, said that Israel is still holding the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians who died in attacks against Israel since 1967. He stated that the detained bodies of the detainees are placed in Israeli morgues and in graveyards known as Numbers Graveyards as the tombs carry numbers instead of names.

At least 3 detainees died during torture, 17 died due to medical negligence, 51 were shot and killed after they were captured, and one detainee was shot and killed at the Negev detention camp.

During the Al Aqsa Intifada, Israeli soldiers kidnapped 750 women, 87 are still imprisoned, in addition to kidnapping more than 7500 children; nearly 300 of them are still imprisoned.

Four female detainees gave birth behind bars, and the Israeli army arrested hundreds of wives, mothers and relatives of wanted fighters as a means of pressure on the fighters to surrender.

As the Palestinians prepare to mark April 17, the Palestinian Prisoners Day, the PPS announced a series of activities to express solidarity with the detainees.

The activities include protests in the streets, interviews and programs about the detainees in local TV and Radio stations, lectures in schools and educational facilities and other popular activities.

Legal center: Condition of Palestinian minors in Israeli jails deteriorating

[ 07/04/2009 - 06:26 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners has revealed on Sunday that the Israeli occupation authority is still detaining 423 Palestinian minors in Israeli jails under harsh and miserable incarceration conditions. In a report it issued in this regard and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, the center pointed out that the Israeli prison guards were practicing psychological pressures on the young Palestinian captives, including sexual harassment in a bid to break their morale. According to the center, out of the 423 juveniles, around 231 were put on trial, 182 were awaiting trial, and at least ten of them were arbitrarily put under administrative detention without any charge being tabled against them. Among the children prisoners is Yousef Al-Zaqq, one year, who is detained with his mother Fatima Al-Zaqq after she delivered him last year at the Israeli Meir hospital in Kfar Saba colony. Moreover, the center accused the IOA of medical neglect against the minor captives in the same way it does with other Palestinian prisoners, prompting an increase in the number of sick minor captives. It added that strange and communicable diseases have appeared and started to spread out among the children captives as a result of that medical neglect. At least ten of the minors, who are detained at the infamous Israeli Talmond prison, were poisoned few days ago after they ate rotten canned food given to them by the jail's administration. Furthermore, the center accused the Israeli prisons authority of using a number of methods to demoralize the juveniles, including strip search and badmouthing them in a bid to pressure them into agreeing to work for and to collaborate with Israeli intelligence. Moreover, the center disclosed that the detention cells where the children are jailed are not fit for "animals" rather than to be fit for human beings, stressing that the international and Arab legal associations were not doing much to bail those children out of the misery. "This farce must end, and all international, Arab, and regional legal institutions must give more attention to this issue, and we must put it on top of our priorities during forums, conferences, and discussions", the center underlined. "Where is the international efforts that should be exerted to give those children their rights?! Why are those children not released up till now?!", the center questioned in the report, urging Arab and international media to focus on, and to highlight the prisoners issue in general, and the issue of the minor captives in particular. Around 11,000 Palestinian citizens, including hundreds of women, children, and sick people are locked up in different Israeli jails across occupied Palestine, many of them had been there for more than two decades.

Farawna: “March 8th a day of solidarity with Palestinian female detainees”

Friday March 06, 2009 23:51 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian researcher, specializing in the issue of detainees, Abdul-Nasser Farawna, stated on Friday that, March 8th, International Women's Day, should be a day of solidarity with the Palestinian women detained by Israel.

File - Palestinian woman kidnapped by soldiers, image, Palestine-info

“The world marks this day to salute women and their important role, struggle and achievements,” Farawna said, “but it forgot that there are thousands of Palestinian women suffering under Israeli occupation, imprisoned and abused.”

He added that the world must understand that the detained Palestinian women are facing harsh treatment in Israeli prisons and are deprived from their basic human rights.

“They face torture, both physical and psychological,” Farawna said, “[s]ome of them are even sexually harassed during interrogation.”

He also said that dozens of women are still imprisoned by Israel; some of them have given birth in prison, while others have left children behind, while a number of them are below the age of 18.

Detainee Amal Jom’a has cancer and is not receiving proper medical attention; her condition is deteriorating. She was kidnapped five years ago and was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment.

Farawna also said that a number of female detainees have been sentenced to multiple life terms, such as Ahlam Tamimi, sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms, Qahera Al Sa’ady, sentenced to three life terms and an additional thirty years, in addition to Amena Mona, Sana’ Shihada, Dua’ Al Jayyousi and several other detainees who are sentenced to at least one life term.

The Israeli Army has kidnapped more than 10,000 Palestinian women since 1967. 800 of them were kidnapped during the al-Aqsa Intifada. There are currently 85 female detainees still imprisoned by Israel.

Furthermore, Farwana said that Israel is still holding the bodies of some Palestinian women who died in attacks against Israeli targets. Some of them are buried in what is known as the “numbers graveyards”.