Khaloud Hanouna, a former detainee from Gaza, has shared her harrowing account of arrest, imprisonment, and forced separation from her family. Her story is a poignant reflection of the hardships faced by many Palestinian women under Israeli detention. Arrested at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City in front of her two daughters and her youngest son, just 10 years old, Hanouna’s ordeal marks the beginning of a nightmare that continues to haunt her.

Hanouna describes her imprisonment as a systematic attempt to strip detainees of their dignity and humanity. “The treatment was harsh in every sense of the word,” she recalls, detailing the physical and psychological abuse endured by detainees to coerce false confessions. From invasive strip searches to prolonged handcuffing, insufficient food, and relentless interrogations, the conditions were designed to break their spirits.

For Hanouna, the pain of being separated from her children was a weapon used against her. “They reveled in our suffering,” she recalls, having spent 60 days in interrogation and military camps, never knowing her fate or when she might reunite with her family.

The day of her arrest is etched deeply in her memory. Under heavy shelling in Gaza’s Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, her family fled to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital seeking refuge. What awaited them was yet another horror. At dawn, Israeli forces issued a chilling demand for surrender. Men were separated from women and children, tearing families apart. Hanouna was ordered to step forward, leaving her children behind. Her youngest clung to her in terror, as a soldier raised his weapon towards her.

Taken with three other women to an unknown location, she prayed silently for her children’s safety during the journey. For 60 days, she endured brutal interrogations before her eventual release in southern Gaza. Yet, her freedom came with unbearable sorrow—her children and family remained in the north, separated by a war-torn landscape.

For Hanouna, her release was bittersweet, a mix of relief and anguish. Her story is just one of many that illuminate the suffering of Palestinian women detainees, whose courage and resilience persist despite the unrelenting oppression they face. Even in the face of separation and loss, these women continue to embody strength and determination, a testament to their unyielding spirit.