⭕ Palestinian Female Political Detainees in Damon Prison Attacked 4 Times in August
⭕ One Prisoner Is 8 Months Pregnant

Palestinian Prisoner's Society 

August 17, 2025

Ramallah, occupied Palestine – The Israeli occupation’s Damon prison administration carried out four violent crackdowns against Palestinian female prisoners in the first half of August. During these raids, prison forces assaulted detainees by handcuffing, humiliatingly dragging them from their cells, forcing them to lower their heads, and abusing them in the prison yard. In two incidents, gas and police dogs were used.

The raids occurred on August 4, 8, 10, and 14, according to recent visits. The PPS stated these assaults are part of a systematic, ongoing policy that has intensified since the start of the genocide in Gaza.
Prison conditions are harsh and degrading. Prisoners suffer from hunger due to poor and often rotten food, skin conditions and insect infestations amid high heat and humidity, and lack of ventilation and basic hygiene products.

There are currently 48 female detainees, including: including two from Gaza (Siham Abu Salem and Mervat Sarhan), two minors (Sally Sadaka and Hanaa Hammad), and two pregnant women (Rima Balawi and Tahani Abu Samhan). Balawi, who is in her eighth month of pregnancy and nearing delivery, was arrested in February 2025 on allegations of “incitement” via social media. Despite her sensitive health condition, her detention continues.

Recent documentation by rights organizations has revealed unprecedented violations against the women, starting from their arrest, through interrogation and transfer via Hasharon Prison, to their current detention in Damon. They are denied visits from their children and families due to a visitation ban imposed since the start of the genocide, worsening their psychological suffering. Many require specialized medical care, including Fidaa Assaf, who has cancer.

The PPS also pointed to an intensification of abusive practices since the genocide, including systematic torture, humiliation, strip searches including sexual violence, solitary confinement, the use of detainees as hostages to pressure relatives to turn themselves in, deliberate medical denial and neglect, and starvation. It noted that arrests of women under the pretext of “incitement” on social media have become a growing trend, used as a broad justification to expand detentions and surveillance. Some detainees have been placed under administrative detention – held without trial or charge - based on “secret files.”

Since the start of the genocide, there have been 570 arrests among women and girls in the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as from the 1948-occupied territories. The number of detainees from Gaza is estimated in the dozens and includes mothers, students, teachers, sisters of prisoners or martyrs, and previously released detainees.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society reiterated its call on the international human rights system to take concrete action to hold Israeli leaders accountable for ongoing war crimes against the Palestinian people. It urged the imposition of international sanctions, a reassessment of the role of the global legal system, an end to the ongoing paralysis surrounding the war, and a halt to the impunity that has allowed Israel to operate without accountability