Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more‘Why is your grandfather’s name Radwan?’: Female detainee recounts beatings, humiliation and squalid conditions in Israeli prisons“Dogs accompanied most of the raids. Male soldiers would also run over us or deliberately collide with us, which was extremely humiliating for the female prisoners.”Palestine Will Be Free READ IN APP  The Israelis have been abducting Palestinian women on the flimsiest of charges and subjecting them to a litany of abuses in their dungeons. The campaign of abductions has accelerated particularly in the aftermath of Al-Aqsa Flood. Numerous reports and first-hand testimonies have documented deplorable detention conditions, including severe beatings, repeated insults and humiliating treatment, frequent raids in the middle of the night, strip searches, deprivation of food and clothing, windowless rooms, cockroach-infested cells, scabies outbreaks, and the denial of basic rights, among others.In a report last month, the Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer published nine testimonies from former detainees recounting the abhorrent conditions to which they were subjected by the Israelis.One female detainee, identified only as S.H., was arrested at her home in the West Bank in February 2025 for social media posts and questioned about why her posts “had received a certain number of comments or likes.”A schoolteacher and mother, S.H. recounted 28 raids on the detainee cells by the occupation forces between May 2025 and May 2026. These raids, which were conducted by special units of the Israeli security apparatus, were often accompanied by the spraying of unidentified gases, beatings, and the use of dogs.She also described dimly lit rooms and stinking bathrooms. “The room light was always switched off, and only the bathroom light worked,” S.H., who was released after 15 months of detention, told Addameer.“Sometimes we would also close the bathroom door because of the bad smell, leaving us without our only source of light. Cockroaches would come out through the drainage opening. Cleaning supplies were almost nonexistent, and the water faucet leaked continuously.” Here is S.H.’s testimony in full as published by Addameer: I was arrested in February 2025, after they called me while I was at school and asked me to attend an interview with the area officer that same day. I immediately went for the interview, where I was arrested.During the interview, they questioned me about posts on Facebook. I am a schoolteacher, and I had to leave my daughter, who was in second grade, at school. Unfortunately, I was unable to go and pick her up or even return to check on her.During the interview, I underwent an initial interrogation. They asked me whether the Facebook account belonged to me and showed me the cover photo. I told them that the account was mine, but that it had been hacked. They then took my basic personal information and fingerprints only. After the interview, they kept me for approximately eight hours inside a building with strong air conditioning, even though the weather was already cold in February. They did not give me a blanket or anything to keep me warm, and I was not given any food.After that, they took me to the Al Maskobiya interrogation center, arriving at approximately 2:00 a.m. that same day. Upon arrival, they immediately took me to the photography section, where they photographed me while I was blindfolded and took my personal information. They then took me to interrogation. I remained standing throughout the interrogation. The interrogator accused me of cooperating with Hamas and Hezbollah, repeatedly making these accusations without allowing me to respond. This continued for approximately 10 minutes without him actually asking any questions. I remained standing throughout, blindfolded and restrained.Eventually, I told him that I was simply a teacher and that I did none of the things he was accusing me of. He replied, “You teach the children terrorism.” I responded that I teach English and that this had nothing to do with terrorism or politics.After that, they took me to the room, and I remained without food until breakfast the following day.I remained in the Maskobiya for approximately 22 days. I did not undergo another interrogation there, but four days after my arrest, they took me back to the police station, where I underwent another interrogation that lasted approximately three to four hours.At the beginning of the interrogation, the interrogator spoke about my personal posts, which numbered approximately 30. They included morning and evening prayers, birthday posts for my children, and very trivial personal and social matters. He asked me why each post had received a certain number of comments or likes. I felt exhausted by the repetition of exactly the same questions for every single post. He would show me each post printed on paper and then repeat the same questions about it and the comments posted on it.  He also asked me, “What does the green triangle mean to you in one of the posts?” He asked me about my grandfather, who had died before I was born, and asked, “Why is your grandfather’s name Radwan? Does it refer to the Radwan Brigade?” He was trying to associate me with organizations based on the simplest things.After finishing with the personal posts, he began asking me about the posts he considered to constitute incitement. Together with the personal posts, there were approximately 95 posts. He asked me whether I belonged to any political party. I denied this and told him that neither I nor my family belonged to any organization whatsoever. I explained that the posts I had written were expressions of sympathy with the children of Gaza, and were not glorification of any faction, particularly because of my work as a teacher of children. I told him that I sympathize with any children who are subjected to harm, regardless of their nationality, religion, or color, because children have nothing to do with politics.Nevertheless, he continued accusing me of belonging to Islamic Jihad and Hamas, cooperating with Hezbollah, and meeting people outside the country, even though I never leave the boundaries of the country.For every post he presented on paper, he repeated the same questions. Sometimes he asked me about comments made by certain people and why the post had received a certain number of likes. I did not know what to say in response to such questions.There was one interrogator. He spoke Arabic and his name was “R.” At the end of the interrogation, he gave me my statement electronically on an iPad, and I signed it. Approximately four hours later, they took me back to the Maskobiya.The treatment in the Maskobiya was extremely poor. I could not distinguish between night and day and did not know what time it was. Whenever we asked the guards what time it was, they would swear at us. There was no window in the room. The other female prisoners with me were (A.K), (S.J), and (K.M).We were deprived of access to the yard (fora). There were no raids, but the treatment was violent and humiliating, with constant insults. More than once, they promised to take us to the yard, but they did not. We were taken out only once or twice, for approximately one hour, after repeatedly insisting and demanding that we be allowed out.The room was small and had a bathroom inside. The room light was always switched off, and only the bathroom light worked. Sometimes we would also close the bathroom door because of the bad smell, leaving us without our only source of light. Cockroaches would come out through the drainage opening. Cleaning supplies were almost nonexistent, and the water faucet leaked continuously.  They also gave us used clothes that had belonged to male prisoners after being washed. They also gave us male underwear (boxers), which we were forced to use until we were transferred to Damon Prison. Criminal detainees distributed these clothes to us.After approximately 22 days, I and the other female prisoner were transferred to Damon Prison. We were transported by bosta [A metal vehicle divided into small, narrow cells, with cramped metal seats that force prisoners into an uncomfortable position. Prisoners are generally shackled by their hands and feet during transfers, and journeys can last many hours, and sometimes much longer because prisoners are taken through different prisons/waiting facilities] . We first stopped in Al Ramleh prison for approximately four hours and then went to Hasharon Prison, where we spent one night. Before entering Hasharon, we were subjected to a strip search, although most of the female prisoners there told me that they had been subjected to a full strip search and in highly humiliating positions. This did not happen to me or to the other female prisoner.As for me, I was subjected to a strip search only once throughout my entire detention, and that was at Damon Prison.I spent approximately 14 months in Damon Prison. At first, during February and March, at the beginning of my detention, there were no raids. The searches were simple, and we did not feel afraid. However, the situation subsequently deteriorated, and stun grenades began to be used during raids. The sound was terrifying and extremely loud, to the extent that some pregnant female prisoners experienced severe pain and cramps as a result of fear.Although pregnant women were excluded from the raids and placed in other rooms until the operation ended, they experienced extreme fear because of the sounds of the stun grenades and the scenes of assaults against the female prisoners.The raids did not take place at a fixed time, but they usually occurred shortly before dawn. The units involved varied from one raid to another. We would be awake for prayer when we would suddenly hear the sounds of stun grenades. The door would then open and a large number of soldiers would enter. At first, they would order us to kneel, while in the later period they began ordering us to lie face down on the floor. They would then take us one by one to the bathrooms for either a strip search or a partial strip search. After that, they would restrain our hands behind our backs and drag us violently to the yard, where they would throw us onto our stomachs. Previously, they forced us to kneel, but later they began forcing us to lie face down. Dogs accompanied most of the raids. Male soldiers would also run over us or deliberately collide with us, which was extremely humiliating for the female prisoners.They would constantly insult us, and at times they would hit us on the head or between the legs with a “magnometer” device. In Room 5, some female prisoners were hit between the legs with this device by male guards.  The female prisoner (F) also filed a complaint with an Israeli organization because she needed medical treatment, and she was subjected to severe beatings during raids. On one occasion, while she was entering the shower, she let her hair down because it was long. The female guards called her and told her that she would be taken to the clinic, but she asked them to wait until she had finished showering. They refused and began banging violently on the door, attempting to enter while she was showering. However, the female prisoner (A) prevented them from entering. After she came out, the prison commander “D” accompanied by the officer “I” personally assaulted her. They struck her head against the sink, causing bruising and pain to her head. She was subsequently punished by being deprived of access to the yard. I was unable to see her until sometime later because she was not in the same room as me. This occurred approximately three months before my release.This was the manner in which raids were carried out against the female prisoners. Below, I will list all the dates of the raids that I remember, whether precisely or approximately, in addition to the names of the units that participated in them: 13/5/2025 – Raid, Nahshon10/6/2025 – Raid, Yamas13/6/2025 – Rooms 4, 5, 10 – gas26/6/2025 – Raid, Yamas, with dogs10/8/2025 – Rooms 2, 6 – with dogs14/8/2025 – Nahshon16/8/20255/10/202510/10/202513/10/20255/12/2025 – Rooms 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 – gas and beatings18/12/2025 – Nahshon14/12/2025 – Rooms 7, 419/1/2026 – Rooms 3, 421/1/2026 – Rooms 1, 2 – spoons confiscated5/2/2026 – Gas5/3/2026 – Nahshon15/3/2026 – Rooms 10, 222/3/202630/3/2026 – Rooms 9, 1017/4/2026 – Rooms 1, 10, 320/4/202621/4/202623/4/2026 – Yamas30/4/2026 – Rooms 9, 51/5/20265/5/202613/5/3026 – Yamas, army, guards; beatings and dogsI was prosecuted on the basis of a large number of posts. I do not know the exact number, but eventually 19 posts remained on the indictment as posts allegedly constituting incitement. At the final court hearing, I was convicted on the basis of 12 posts. I was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment.According to the latest figures released by Addameer earlier this week, around 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli dungeons; close to half of them (49 per cent or 4,520 people) are held without trial or charge.These figures include 350 child detainees and 91 women, two of whom are pregnant. Share I’ve never put up a paywall, but this newsletter wouldn’t be possible without your support. If you are able, please consider supporting my work with a paid subscription here, on Ko-fi, or on Patreon. You can also buy me a coffee or two at the link below. Thank you! 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