68-year-old Palestinian woman dies in Israeli detention

A Palestinian woman has died in Israeli detention allegedly due to medical neglect, according to a rights group.

Saadia Farajallah, 68, breathed her last breath in the Israeli Damon prison near Haifa in northern Israel, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement on Saturday.

Farajallah, a mother of eight from the town of Idna in the occupied West Bank, was detained by Israeli forces in December 2021 while she was near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron city.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society said Israeli forces brutally assaulted Farajallah as they detained her for allegedly attempting a stabbing attack.

The NGO accused Damon prison authorities of medical neglect as Saadia Farajallah's health had recently been in decline due to multiple chronic illnesses, including high blood pressure and diabetes.

The Palestinian Authority held Israel responsible for the death of the Palestinian detainee.

Farajallah’s death “was the latest episode in the racist crimes committed against our detainees and female prisoners,” Qadri Abu Baker, the head of the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and ex-Detainees, said in a statement.

He said the silence of the international community “allows the Israeli occupation to commit more crimes against our prisoners.”

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'Suppression of Palestinian civil society'

At least 230 Palestinians have died while in Israeli detention since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, according to Palestinian figures. Farajallah was one of 29 female prisoners held in the Damon prison.

According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, around 20 percent of Palestinians have been detained or imprisoned at least once under Israeli military orders since 1967, including 10,000 women. For the male population, the number goes up to 40 percent.

According to Palestinian estimates, there are at least 4,600 Palestinians currently held in Israeli detention facilities. Of those, 32 are women and 170 are children, rights group Addameer said.

At least 640 Palestinians are currently held under "administrative detention," a controversial policy under which Israeli military courts can order the detention of a suspect based on undisclosed evidence, without trial or charge for renewable periods of three to six months.

Israel says it uses administrative detention when it fears an immediate security risk, but rights groups have demanded a halt to the controversial practice, arguing it has been a tool to suppress Palestinian civil society - used against lawyers, students, and human rights activists among others.

Since 2014, there have been about 500 Palestinians held in administrative detention at any given time.

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