War crimes in Damon prison: The silent graveyard of Palestinian women prisoners

The Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Authority, in its latest report, announced that 53 Palestinian women are currently imprisoned in Israeli jails: 42 from the West Bank, 5 from the 1948 territories, 4 from occupied Jerusalem, and 2 from the Gaza Strip.

According to the report, the women prisoners endure harsh detention conditions and are deprived of their most basic human rights. Some of those released in the recent prisoner exchange deal between the Palestinian resistance and Israel were later re-arrested.

Call for international intervention

Shahab news agency quoted Riyad al-Ashqar, Director of the Palestinian Prisoners Studies Center, as saying that Israel commits the worst forms of human rights violations against Palestinian women detainees while international bodies claiming to defend women’s rights remain silent.

He stated that since October 7, 2023, more than 600 Palestinian women and girls from the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the 1948 occupied lands have been arrested. In addition, dozens of women from Gaza are being held, with the identities of most of them still unknown.

Al-Ashqar explained that Israeli forces raid homes at night, arrest women under baseless charges, demolish their houses, blindfold and shackle them, and transfer them to interrogation centers where they are beaten and humiliated.

He added that conditions for women in Damon Prison have worsened since the war on Gaza began. Alarming cases have emerged, such as the detention of two teenage girls, the birth of a child inside prison after Israel refused to release the mother, and the imprisonment of elderly and sick women including Siham Abu Salem (66) and Fidaa Assaf (49, cancer patient).

According to al-Ashqar, Palestinian women in Damon face various forms of torture and degrading treatment: insufficient food and medicine, surveillance cameras in courtyards, invasive body searches, physical assault, solitary confinement, and repeated deprivations.

He urged international organizations and women’s rights advocates to act immediately to stop these crimes, stressing that what is happening in Israeli prisons amounts to war crimes.

Damon: A silent graveyard for Palestinian women

As reported by Palestine Studies, Damon Prison is more than just walls and barbed wire—it is a quiet graveyard where Palestinian women are crushed daily by overcrowding, hunger, and the denial of their basic rights.

The cells are suffocating and unventilated, food is unsuitable, strip searches and constant humiliation are routine, illnesses go untreated, and mothers are deprived of seeing their children for months.

Palestinian lawyer Hassan Abadi, after repeated visits, described in detail the grim conditions, calling them profoundly inhumane. Overcrowding, lack of ventilation, and the absence of hygiene have made life unbearable inside Damon.

Meals fail to meet any hygienic or humanitarian standards; food cannot be heated, and many prisoners have lost significant weight. Women lack basic necessities such as clothes, blankets, and personal hygiene items, losing all sense of privacy.

Many suffer from serious illnesses such as cancer. Skin diseases like scabies have spread due to damp conditions, causing painful rashes that remain untreated. Medical negligence is deliberate—when prisoners visit the infirmary, they are often told to “drink water,” even though water is distributed only once a day.

Cancer patients are abandoned without treatment, pregnant women suffer from malnutrition and lack of medical care, and wounds caused by beatings or handcuffs go untreated—amounting to slow, deliberate killing.

What Israel calls a “medical clinic” is in reality unqualified and humiliating, with surveillance cameras even inside treatment rooms.

Prisoners face brutal punishments and are completely deprived of family visits. Since October 7, women detainees have not seen their children; their only contact is brief online court sessions, which they consider their greatest achievement.

They are completely cut off from the outside world—no radio, TV, or communication except through lawyers. This isolation worsens their psychological and physical suffering, making them feel as if they live in a grave.

Verbal and physical assaults by guards are constant, including insults, shouting, humiliation, sexual threats, and harassment.

Two 16-year-old schoolgirls are among the detainees, abducted from classrooms, deprived of education, and held in solitary confinement with no interaction except when food is delivered.

Women prisoners in Damon spend 23.5 hours a day in their cells, allowed only half an hour outside for showering or limited interaction with others.

From the moment of arrest, humiliating searches begin—strip searches in front of soldiers, in vehicles, and during prison transfers. Even in court, they are denied privacy, as hearings are rushed, with nine sessions lasting only 27 minutes in total. They cannot consult privately with their lawyers.

Complaints are ignored, leaving international exposure through lawyers or NGOs as the only way to pressure prison authorities into minor concessions.

Some pregnant detainees refuse to give birth inside Damon, fearing inhumane treatment. At one point, prison authorities even placed cages in the yard to hold mentally ill women until global pressure forced their removal.

A system of organized oppression

“The situation is truly tragic,” said Hassan Abadi. “What happens in Damon is not isolated abuse but a systematic regime of oppression, starvation, and humiliation designed to break the bodies and spirits of Palestinian women. Each testimony reveals that prison is no longer a detention facility but a tool of silent, cold-blooded killing.”

Despite this, he emphasized, the women prisoners remain resilient, clinging to the Qur’an, stories, and memories as their final shield of humanity. He stressed that freedom is the only cure, and silence in the face of their suffering is a double betrayal. The plight of Palestinian women prisoners must remain alive in global conscience and a continuous cry against a silent world.