On the night of April 30, Israeli military forces raided the West Bank home of Musab Zaloum, a Palestinian father of two, as he and his family slept peacefully. Zaloum was separated from his wife Manar Karaja and their young children within minutes of the soldiers’ arrival, handcuffed and forced outside before he had any understanding of the operation’s target. It was only after he was placed in an armored military vehicle that a soldier informed him: 28-year-old Karaja, who was just two days prior confirmed to be pregnant with the couple’s third child, was under arrest.
Zaloum, still cuffed, was soon allowed to return to the house, where he found his 5-year-old son Ayman and 4-year-old daughter Layla awake and screaming in terror. Woken by the commotion after the soldiers left, the children immediately begged to know where their mother was. To calm them in that terrifying moment, Zaloum told them intruders had broken into the home, and that their mother would return by morning. That promise was broken, and he soon had to tell the children the truth: the Israeli army had taken their mother.
Karaja is one of three pregnant Palestinian women currently held in Israel’s Damon Prison, all of whom are being subjected to brutal, degrading conditions that put both their lives and the lives of their unborn children at severe risk, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. These three women are part of a larger population of 93 Palestinian female detainees held in Israeli prisons, a group that has seen conditions deteriorate dramatically since October 2023. Since that date, no family members nor International Committee of the Red Cross representatives have been granted access to visit the female prisoners.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club released a statement accusing the Israeli Prison Service of ramping up punitive measures against female detainees in recent months. “Some pregnant prisoners have been subjected to harsh interrogations and detention conditions in cells that lack even the most basic sanitary standards,” the organization said. “This has exacerbated their physical and psychological suffering, leading to weight loss, emaciation and extreme exhaustion.” The group added that even pregnant detainees have been forced to undergo invasive, humiliating strip searches.
For Zaloum, life since Karaja’s arrest has been consumed by worry. The couple had only just learned of their pregnancy days before the raid, and had already begun picking out names for their coming child, a brief burst of joy cut short by the midnight raid. Today, he cares for their two young children alone, and his biggest fear is the lack of proper food and medical care for his wife in detention. He describes the prison conditions as “deplorable”, noting that even the small rations provided to regular prisoners are far from enough to meet the dietary needs of a pregnant woman.
Through lawyers that visit Karaja every few weeks (the only contact her family is allowed), Zaloum has learned that overcrowding at Damon Prison has forced Karaja to sleep directly on the cold concrete floor since her arrest, and she suffers from constant body pain as a result. Israel is holding Karaja on suspicion of incitement, a loosely defined charge that is frequently used to detain Palestinian women, often based on social media posts, and she remains in detention awaiting trial.
Karaja is far from alone in her suffering. Thirty-five-year-old Dana Joudeh, a five-month pregnant woman from Nablus, was arrested on April 18. Just months before her arrest, Joudeh underwent gastric bypass surgery, and she had only just learned of her pregnancy when Israeli forces raided her home and detained her. She was first held at the notorious Hasharon detention center, where reports routinely document humiliating treatment, invasive strip searches, and the denial of basic necessities including mattresses and adequate food.
Joudeh’s family told Middle East Eye that she has repeatedly suffered fainting spells and dehydration in detention, but prison officials have refused to provide the specialized medical care she needs given her pregnancy and recent surgery. “She told her lawyer that the women sleep on the floor in overcrowded, cold cells,” Joudeh’s mother said. “Some pregnant prisoners try to support others by sharing portions of bread and food, despite the already meagre rations and poor-quality meals.” The family lives in constant fear, with repeated requests for medical checkups for Joudeh ignored by prison authorities.
In Qalqilya, 37-year-old Amina al-Taweel, a mother of four who is four months pregnant, has been held on incitement charges since her March 18 arrest. Her husband Ali Shawahneh, who himself has spent 19 years total in Israeli prisons, says her arrest came as a devastating shock. “On the day of her arrest, I told the officer, ‘Take me instead of her,’” he recalled. “He replied, ‘This time, you’re not the one we’re after – it’s your wife.’ They handcuffed her and took her away while I stood there in shock, and the children cried.” Now caring for their four children alone, Shawahneh says he cannot meet the children’s emotional needs as they grieve for their mother. Al-Taweel, who experiences severe complications in early pregnancy that require ongoing care, has no access to that support in prison. “During my last detention, I lost more than 60 kilograms because of the poor quality and scarcity of food. How is a pregnant woman supposed to endure that?” Shawahneh asked.
Palestinian human rights defenders say Israel’s treatment of these pregnant detainees crosses every line of international law. Helmi al-Araj, director of the Hurryyat Centre for Defence of Liberties and Civil Rights, said that Israel’s policy of abuse toward prisoners has existed long before October 2023, but has become far more severe in recent months. “Prisoners face collective punishment, abuse, torture, starvation, isolation, and denial of family visits,” al-Araj told Middle East Eye. “All of this negatively impacts the psychological state of female prisoners who are mothers and pregnant women. This Israeli policy existed even before 7 October, but it has become a deeply entrenched policy based on grave violations of the rights of prisoners.”
Official Palestinian detainee advocacy groups confirm that the broader population of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody faces systemic abuse. According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, more than 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 93 women and more than 350 children. More than 765 women and girls have been arrested by Israeli forces since the start of the military campaign in Gaza in October 2023. Nearly half of all Palestinian detainees are held without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders.