'All changed with the genocide': Palestinian women and girls face brutal abuse in Israeli jails

'All changed with the genocide': Palestinian women and girls face brutal abuse in Israeli jails Submitted by Victoria Brittain on Thu, 04/16/2026 - 16:01 More than 700 have been arrested since the Gaza genocide began, enduring brutal conditions of starvation, isolation and humiliation Israeli soldiers keep watch as Palestinians gather at the Qalandia checkpoint in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on 20 February 2026 (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP) On Once you picture schoolgirls, university students, mothers, aunts and grandmothers lying on their stomachs in prison pyjamas - their hands tied behind their backs, and soldiers looming over them, beating them if they move even slightly - you cannot forget the image. When you hear a female prisoner say she has "nothing but her heart", you immediately grasp how prison can dismantle lives. Palestinian Prisoners’ Day is marked every year on 17 April to spotlight ongoing human rights violations - and today, conditions are worse than ever.