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Israel arrested 175 Palestinian women, girls in 2018

January 2, 2019 at 11:57 am

Israeli soldiers arrest a woman protester during a demonstration by Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists against Israel’s controversial separation barrier which crosses the Palestinian territories in the West Bank town of Beit Jala, near the biblical town of Bethlehem, on 27 June 2010 [Mamoun Wazwaz/Apaimages]

Israeli occupation forces arrested 175 Palestinian women and girls in 2018 and summoned hundreds in for interrogation, the Palestine Prisoners’ Centre for Studies said yesterday.

In a statement reported by the Safa News Agency, the Director of the centre Riyadh Al-Ashqar said that the Israeli occupation escalated its aggression on Palestinian women and girls this year in order to punish them for their participation in anti-occupation activities.

He also said that the Israeli occupation arrested female relatives of male prisoners, describing this as a “form of illegal punishment”.

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Al-Ashqar documented the detention of 15 females who’s male relatives are being held in Israeli detention including Bayan Faroun. The twenty-four-year-old was handed a 40 months prison term. She is the fiancé of Ahmed Azzam who was sentenced to six-years in jail.

Female prisoners face harsh conditions in jail, Al-Ashqar said, including violation of their rights, humiliation and a lack of access to health care.