Warnings of danger threatening the lives of pregnant female prisoners in occupation prisons due to abuse and starvation

Palestinian human rights organizations have launched an urgent distress call due to the exacerbated suffering endured by three pregnant female prisoners inside Israeli occupation detention centers, where they face harsh detention conditions that contradict the lowest humanitarian standards. Sources confirmed that the systematic starvation policy and continuous abuse now pose a real danger threatening the lives of the female prisoners and the safety of their fetuses, in the absence of medical care.\n\nThe Prisoners' Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoner's Club warned of the rapid deterioration in the conditions of female prisoners in general, and pregnant women in particular, especially with the occupation authorities continuing to prevent the International Committee of the Red Cross and prisoners' families from visiting. These measures are part of a series of collective punishments imposed by the prison administration since the start of the widespread aggression against the Palestinian people.\n\nThe case of female prisoner Amina Shaher Al-Tawil (37 years old) from Qalqilya city stands out as one of the painful examples. She is a mother of four children and is four months pregnant. The occupation authorities have continued to detain her since last March on the pretext of incitement. Al-Tawil lives in difficult health conditions, lacking the necessary nutritional supplements for her condition, despite being the wife of a released prisoner who spent many years in prison.\n\nIn a related context, female prisoner Dana Enad Joudeh (35 years old) from Nablus faces an unknown fate after being transferred to administrative detention for six months without a clear charge or a fair trial. Dana, who is in her fifth month of pregnancy, suffers from the consequences of detention in an unhealthy environment, which increases concern for her fetus in light of the deliberate medical negligence policy pursued by the Damon Prison administration.\n\nAs for female prisoner Manar Ibrahim Ibrahim (28 years old) from Ramallah, she is held in cells while four months pregnant. She was arrested at the end of last April due to her activity on social media platforms. Legal reports indicate that Manar is subjected to harsh interrogations that do not take into account the specificity of her health condition, exposing her to severe physical and psychological exhaustion.\n\nHuman rights sources, based on testimonies from released female prisoners and visits by legal teams, reported that the prison system has escalated its retaliatory measures, which included unprecedented and humiliating naked searches. The sources explained that these practices are part of a comprehensive approach aimed at breaking the will of male and female prisoners through continuous physical and psychological abuse.\n\nThe data indicates that female prisoners go through harsh stages of detention, starting from violent interrogation centers, then transfer to 'Hasharon' prison as a temporary detention station lacking the most basic necessities, leading to 'Damon' prison. In all these stations, pregnant women are deprived of balanced meals or regular examinations necessary to monitor fetal growth and maternal health.\n\n"The Prisoners' Affairs Authority revealed a state of severe overcrowding inside the female prisoners' rooms, which led to the spread of skin diseases and difficulty in movement and breathing, especially for pregnant women who need special care spaces. The Authority described the situation inside Damon Prison as 'catastrophic,' where the administration deliberately ignores vital demands to provide adequate clothing and blankets or improve the quality of food provided.\n\nPalestinian institutions called on international bodies and women's and human rights organizations to intervene immediately to pressure the occupation to end the isolation of female prisoners and stop the policy of medical negligence. They stressed that the continued detention of pregnant women in these conditions represents a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and all international conventions that guarantee the protection of civilians and women under occupation.\n\nIt is worth noting that the number of female prisoners in occupation prisons has reached 93, including children and elderly women, as part of a widespread arrest campaign that has targeted more than 765 women since last October. These statistics come amid an increase in the total number of prisoners in prisons to about 9,500 prisoners, all of whom live under the weight of unprecedented repressive measures in the history of the prisoner movement.\n\nPregnant female prisoners are not immune from systematic torture and oppression and humiliating and naked searches, which have become a policy that has escalated in the context of the genocide approach inside prisons.