39 Mothers Continue to Be Detained by Israeli Occupation in Its Prisons

SadaNews - The Palestinian Prison Club stated that on Mother's Day, amidst an ongoing war and the resulting loss and pain, the Israeli occupation continues to detain 39 Palestinian mothers in its prisons, making them part of a total of 79 female prisoners.

The imprisoned mothers form part of a social structure that has been subjected to compounded targeting, as this category includes mothers of martyrs and prisoners, wives of prisoners and ex-prisoners, sisters of martyrs and prisoners, in addition to women working in vital sectors, among them journalists, teachers, lawyers, activists, doctors, academics, and housewives, as stated by the club.

The Prison Club confirmed that the imprisoned mothers are subjected, like other prisoners, to a comprehensive system of violations, including torture, deprivation of food, denial of medical treatment, solitary confinement, alongside systematic policies of repression and maltreatment.

The majority of them are held under administrative detention, or based on what the occupation claims as "incitement" through social media, in the context of a policy targeting the digital space as an additional tool of repression.

Since the onset of the genocide, the occupation has intensified its measures against prisoners, continuing to prevent their families from visiting them, as well as blocking International Committee of the Red Cross teams from accessing them, according to the club.

The Prison Club pointed out that hundreds of mothers have been subjected to detention since the beginning of the genocide, among them women prisoners from Gaza who were later released, including elderly women, indicating a clear broadening of the targeting scope.

On Mother's Day, the Prison Club reiterated that targeting Palestinian mothers through detention constitutes a facet of the comprehensive war on Palestinian existence, and renewed its demand for pressure to be exerted for the immediate release of female prisoners, to stop the organized crimes against them, and to halt the escalating arrest campaigns against women, which have reached unprecedented levels since the onset of the genocide.