News- Middle East: A Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy group has warned that female Palestinian detainees being held at the notorious Damon Prison in the Israeli-occupied territories are subjected to different types of abuse and are enduring harsh detention conditions.

On Monday, the lawyer of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs recounted the ordeal of Intisar al-Awawdeh and shed light on her mistreatment during and after her detention.

The 52-year-old Palestinian woman, a resident of the village of Karma in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, was arrested on May 13.

Awawdeh said a large number of Israeli soldiers raided her house in the morning, asking for her identity. They then confiscated her phone and computer, and arrested her.

“They blindfolded me, tied my hands, and refused to let me change my clothes. There was no female soldier with them. They shoved me repeatedly and transported me in a military jeep,” she added.

Awawdeh was taken to an interrogation center in Kiryat Arba settlement on the outskirts of al-Khalil, and later to Moscovia detention center, where she was strip-searched and held for 22 days.

“The cell was dimly dark and windowless. The water was undrinkable,” the Palestinian woman said as she recounted the inhuman conditions at Moscovia.

“I was then transferred to the Sharon prison, where the humidity reaches the point of mold, the floor is extremely dirty, like a garbage dump, and foul odors emanate from everywhere. The food is poor both in terms of quantity and quality.

“At Damon Prison, the conditions are extremely harsh. There is no natural ventilation in the rooms, no personal hygiene supplies, and most women suffer from skin rashes due to heat, sweat, and humidity,” she added.

Awawdeh further noted that female detainees are denied exposure to sunlight, as the outdoor yard is monitored by surveillance cameras, deterring the prisoners from removing their head coverings. Many suffer from vitamin D deficiency and hair loss as a result.

“We continue to suffer from a shortage of clothing and underwear, besides constant and sudden inspections. These cause anxiety among female prisoners, especially among minors and pregnant women,” she concluded. 

Israel keeps Palestinian inmates under deplorable conditions without proper hygienic standards. Palestinian inmates have also been subject to systematic torture, harassment, and repression.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes in an attempt to express outrage at their illegal detention.

Human rights organizations say Israel continues to violate all rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention and international laws. 

According to the Palestine Detainees Studies Center, around 60 percent of the Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails suffer from chronic diseases, a number of whom died in detention or after being released due to the severity of their cases.

Source: Press TV