'Israel' cracks down on Palestinian female prisoners
The gate of an Israeli prison (Archive)
The Israeli occupation has launched a large-scale campaign of brutal repression against Palestinian prisoners, most notably female prisoners, in the wake of failed talks between the prisoners' representatives and the occupation's Prison Service.
Simultaneously, the Waed Prisoners' Association announced that 120 prisoners in Al-Naqab Prison are continuing their hunger strike for the second day after the occupation refused to halt repressive Israeli measures against them.
The notorious crackdown on female prisoners
Concurrently, the occupation's Prison Service cracked down on female prisoners since early morning, subjecting them to brutal practices, the Association reported.
Waed further warned that "there are no clear details about what is happening."
The Palestinian Prisoners' Information Office confirmed that the Palestinian prisoners closed all sections in all occupation prisons in the "Ofer, Megiddo, Al-Naqab, and Damon" prisons, protesting the occupation's punitive measures against them.
In an updated development, the Association revealed that IOF soldiers assaulted a number of female prisoners in "Damon" prison. In response, the female prisoners rebelled and set fire to their cells. The "Damon" Prison authority fired tear gas and pepper spray into their wards.
The "situation is tense in all occupation prisons, escalatory steps will be taken in retaliation to the assault and injustice against female prisoners," the Association warned.
It is worth noting that the IOF's repressive practices include pepper spray, sonic grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets, and batons, not to mention police dogs. The Palestinian prisoners can also be subjected to severe beatings, the confiscation of their electric tools, and enforcing a general prohibition on phone communication.
The prisoners, who are housed in camps, caravans, and mobile cells, are severely overcrowded, especially during the harsh weather conditions of summer and winter.
The Israeli occupation is notorious for vandalizing prisoners' property during crackdowns, destroying anything they lay their eyes upon, including the prison's canteen.
The spokesperson for the Prisoners' Information Office, Hazem Hassanein tersely stated the Israeli crackdown on female Palestinian prisoners in "Damon" is a hazardous transgression of all red lines.
"The occupation's abuses towards female detainees portend a serious Intifada in Israeli prisons," he continued.
He went on to say that "the conditions of female prisoners in 'Damon' prison require everyone to take a stand.”
The big picture
The Israeli occupation's violations against Palestinian prisoners come in light of the large-scale transfers of prisoners that the IOF has been carrying out against prisoners, in a bid to further stifle the Captive Movement. It is expected that these actions will affect several other prisons and may continue through March.
All this is happening following the fascist threats of Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, as part of the policy of "shuffling cards", which the Israeli Minister seeks to implement, taking punitive measures against a number of male and female prisoners, claiming that they celebrated the Al-Quds operation.
It is worth noting that 4,700 Palestinian prisoners were still in Israeli occupation prisons by the end of 2022, including 29 women and 150 children, and about 850 administrative detainees, including seven children, two female prisoners, five deputies in the Palestinian Legislative Council, and 15 journalists.
Among the Palestinian prisoners, 330 have been detained for more than 20 years, 25 before the signing of the so-called "Oslo Accords" in 1993, and 552 prisoners have been sentenced to life imprisonment.