Number of Palestinian Females in Occupation’s Custody Increases
17/3/2025

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society 

Ramallah, Palestine - The total number of identified female Palestinian political detainees held by the Israeli occupation has risen to 26 people, including a child, during March 2025, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) announced today. This figure does not include the women who were abducted from Gaza since the start of the genocide, as occupation authorities continue to impose an information blackout on them. 

There were at least 14 arrests of women across the occupied West Bank this month, including three sisters from Hebron city, in an ongoing campaign of mass arrests. 

The PPS clarified that the majority of the 26 females are being held in Israel’s Damon prison. They include a female minor, a three-month pregnant woman, three women held without trial or charge under administrative detention, two journalists, one prisoner battling cancer, and one from Gaza identified as Siham Abu Salem.

It is important to note that two of the female prisoners have been in detention since before October 7, 2023 yet the occupation refuses to include them in the exchange deals made between the occupation and the Palestinian resistance.

The PPS highlighted that the majority of these women were detained on charges of what the occupation claims is "incitement," essentially amounting to administrative detention. Additionally, the total number of women arrested since the beginning of the genocide has reached around 500. This includes arrests in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, as well the 1948-occupied territories. The number of women arrested from Gaza remains unclear. 

This escalation is set against the backdrop of the most violent period in the history of the struggle with the occupation,  marked by war crimes and severe violations, particularly field executions, systematic arrests, and horrific abuses such as sexual assault. 

It is important to note that this systematic targeting of women include those from all Palestinian areas, with no exception for minors. This includes the detention and use of women as hostages and bargaining chips in an attempt to pressure their male family members into surrendering themselves. Dozens of women have been detained for this purpose over the past period. This policy has become one of the most egregious crimes and has intensified dramatically since October 2023.