Israel holding 65 female Palestinian prisoners, rights group says

The Israeli regime is holding 65 Palestinian women, including 12 minors, "under dire conditions" in its jails, a rights group says.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said in a statement on Tuesday, the eve of the International Women's Day, that the female prisoners were being held in HaSharon and Damon jails, whose prison cells are unbearably cold in winter and hot in summer.

The rights group said the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) imposes restrictions on the provision of clothes, bed sheets and shoes.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said in a statement on Tuesday, "Palestinian women continue to suffer severe psychological, physical, and emotional abuse and endure grave acts of oppression, violence, and hardship at the hands of Israel and its unbridled violations."

Ashrawi said some 15,000 Palestinian women and girls have been imprisoned by Israel since 1967.

Amina al-Tawil, the spokeswoman of the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies, said in a statement on March 4 that female Palestinian prisoners in HaSharon and Damon were facing harsh conditions and their living conditions "worsen day by day."

She added that many of the female Palestinian prisoners lacked the "basics of human life," while prison officials "ban them from even simple rights and from continuing their studies."

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