The Israeli occupation authorities at Damon Prison confiscate the hijabs of female prisoners and force them to wear «sports suits» and conduct strip searches

The Israeli occupation authorities at Damon Prison, where 94 Palestinian female prisoners are held, have confiscated their abayas, hijabs, and niqabs, forcing them to wear only gray sports suits without head coverings. This action followed the replacement of the previous prison administration and the appointment of a new director, who informed them that these new regulations would be implemented continuously as “retaliation for the events of October 7, 2023.”

The conditions for female prisoners in Israeli prisons have gone from bad to worse, as the Damon Prison administration has continued to retaliate against them for a whole year, now escalating to the confiscation of their hijabs. According to testimonies from prisoners, which lawyers from the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs were able to collect during visits, their rooms are subjected to arbitrary daily searches at dawn. The administration storms the section, selects one or two rooms, evacuates the prisoners, and holds them for an hour or more in the prison yard.

The prisoners reported that during these room raids, female guards conduct strip searches and confiscate simple items, such as an empty plastic container used as a substitute for cups. Additionally, they have taken threads that the prisoners had pulled from blankets to make bracelets to pass the long hours in their rooms. The prisoners revealed that they are unable to repair their torn clothes and have no replacements, especially after the confiscation of their last sewing needle.

The female prisoners shared that they only have one summer outfit, and the prison administration refuses to provide them with warm or additional clothing. Each prisoner owns just one towel, which must be cut in half to share if a new prisoner arrives, as they are forced to share their belongings due to the prison administration’s failure to provide personal necessities.

The prisoners are also forced to borrow shoes from one another when they go to the yard, the clinic, or to meet with their lawyers, as their shoes were confiscated by the guards in unjustified retaliatory actions. Furthermore, the prisoners at Damon suffer from a severe shortage of personal and room cleaning supplies, as well as a shortage of blankets, while temperatures drop with the onset of winter. They are already experiencing freezing cold at night and in the early morning, leading to various illnesses.

Additionally, two weeks ago, the so-called Israeli Prison Service at Damon deliberately installed light switches outside the prisoners’ rooms and removed the internal ones, giving the guards control over lighting times at their discretion. The prisoners reported that the starvation policy adopted by the Talmond prison administration has caused hormonal changes and side effects in their bodies over the past several months.