Pregnant and imprisoned: Palestinian women face harsh conditions in Israeli jails

What Happened

Three pregnant Palestinian women—Manar Karaja, 28, Dana Joudah, 35, and Amina al-Taweel, 37—are being held in Israeli prisons after separate arrests in the occupied West Bank between 18 March and 30 April 2025. Karaja, arrested on 30 April from her home in front of her two children, was two months pregnant; Joudah, arrested on 18 April, is five months pregnant and had recently undergone gastric bypass surgery; al-Taweel, arrested on 18 March, is four months pregnant and a mother of four. All are held on suspicion of incitement based on social media posts. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club accuses the Israeli Prison Service of imposing harsh and degrading conditions on pregnant detainees, including overcrowded cells without mattresses, insufficient nutrition, lack of medical care, and strip searches. Families and lawyers report that the women sleep on floors, suffer from persistent pain, fainting spells, and weight loss, and that requests for medical examinations have been ignored. Since October 2023, family and Red Cross visits have been prohibited. Karaja is held in Damon Prison; Joudah was initially held in Hasharon detention centre before transfer.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The detention of pregnant women under allegedly degrading conditions exposes the intersection of occupation, mass incarceration, and humanitarian concerns amid the ongoing Israel–Palestine conflict. It raises questions about Israel's compliance with international standards on the treatment of female detainees and may attract scrutiny from human rights bodies and foreign governments.

Watch For

Monitor for an official Israeli response to the allegations, upcoming court hearings for the women's detention, and any statements from the International Committee of the Red Cross or UN agencies. Potential family or lawyer-led appeals for medical intervention, as well as further reports from the Palestinian Prisoners' Club on the conditions inside Damon Prison and Hasharon detention centre.