In yet another act of repression, Israeli prison authorities have assaulted and isolated 22-year-old Palestinian student Karmel Al-Khawaja after a violent raid at Damon prison. Karmel, a final-year Public Administration student at Birzeit University, was detained in early March following a pre-dawn raid on her family home in Deir Qaddis, near Ramallah.

On Thursday, sources revealed that the raid on Damon prison involved invasive and aggressive searches of the women’s cells. When Karmel stood up for herself and other inmates, she was reportedly beaten by a female soldier, sustaining injuries to her foot and hand. No medical attention was provided. Rather than protecting her rights, the prison authorities punished her further—forcing her into solitary confinement for two days, exacerbating her already fragile physical and emotional condition.

Her mother, Amal Sheikha, called for urgent medical attention and legal access, describing the continued abuse as a grave breach of international law. She insisted that such violence would not break her daughter’s spirit but would instead expose the inhumanity of the occupation.

Karmel’s case is far from isolated. It reflects the daily reality for many Palestinian women in Israeli detention—young students paying the price for their resistance. In the silence of their cells, their stories demand to be heard.