Thirty-nine Palestinian mothers are currently being held in Israeli prisons , according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club , as the Arab world marks Mother’s Day .
Mother’s Day is celebrated on 21 March each year across most of the Middle East and North Africa, a date first introduced in Egypt by journalist Mustafa Amin and observed since 1956.
In a statement issued to mark the occasion, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said the 39 mothers are among 79 female prisoners and are spending the day behind bars while facing what it described as a "comprehensive system of violations".
It said imprisoned mothers are subjected to "torture, starvation, denial of medical treatment, solitary confinement", as well as "systematic repression and abuse".
The organisation added that the detained mothers come from a wide social background, including “mothers of martyrs and prisoners, wives of prisoners and former detainees, and sisters of martyrs and prisoners”, as well as professionals such as journalists, teachers, lawyers, activists, doctors and academics.
According to the group, most are held under administrative detention or on charges the Israeli authorities describe as "incitement" on social media, which it said reflects a broader policy targeting the digital sphere as a tool of repression.
Since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, the organisation said Israel has intensified its measures against detainees, including preventing family visits and denying access to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
It added that hundreds of mothers have been detained since the start of the war, including women from Gaza who were later released, among them elderly detainees, which it said reflects an expanding scope of arrests.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said that the detention of mothers forms "one aspect of a broader war against Palestinian existence", calling for international pressure to secure the immediate release of female prisoners and to halt what it described as escalating and unprecedented arrest campaigns targeting women.
In a separate statement issued on 19 March ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the organisation said that more than 9,500 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, the majority without formal charges, including women and children.
It added that prisons have become "one of the arenas of genocide", alleging that detainees face daily torture, starvation and deprivation, as well as sexual violence, including rape, and systematic repression.
According to the group, more than 100 prisoners have died in custody since the start of the war, with 88 identified, while dozens of detainees from Gaza remain forcibly disappeared, with their bodies still withheld.