Teenage Palestinian girls held in Israeli prison have their futures put on hold

Teenage Palestinian girls held in Israeli prison have their futures put on hold Submitted by Mojahid Nawahda on Thu, 07/09/2026 - 10:06 Abusive conditions, poor food and lack of sanitary products are life for the hundreds of Palestinian minors held in Israeli custody Family of Nada Bani Odeh hold their imprisoned daughter's possessions (Mojahid Nawahda/MEE) Off As thousands of Palestinian students complete their final high school exams this summer and look ahead to university, 17-year-old Nada Bani Odeh and 16-year-old Ola Qutaishat are spending these same weeks behind bars in Israel’s Damon Prison, far from classrooms, textbooks and the futures they had been preparing for. Nada was due to sit the Palestinian secondary school examinations, known as "tawjihi", this year, while Ola had just finished the 11th grade and was preparing for her final year of school. Instead, the two girls - among the youngest Palestinian female prisoners - now face repeated court hearings after being arrested in separate cases over social media posts. Their families say the arrests have interrupted their education and put their academic ambitions on hold. From prison, however, the questions they continue to send home are not about court proceedings but about school: their grades, their classmates, and whether they will still have a chance to return to the education they were forced to leave behind. When Israeli forces raided the family’s home in the occupied West Bank before dawn on 12 February, Nada’s mother, Gharam Abu Aisha, said she initially assumed the soldiers had come for her husband. “I never imagined they were coming for my daughter,” she told Middle East Eye. “Then they asked, ‘Where is the tawjihi student?’” According to her mother, Nada, then 17, calmly got dressed and handed over her phone when asked, insisting she had nothing to hide. As soldiers escorted her out into the cold, Gharam broke down in tears. But it was her daughter who tried to comfort her. “She told me, ‘Why are you crying? Even if I come back after a year or two, I’ll still come home and get the highest grades for you.” - Gharam Abu Aisha, mother “She told me, ‘Why are you crying? Even if I come back after a year or two, I’ll still come home and get the highest grades for you.’” For Gharam, the image that has stayed with her ever since is not the arrest itself, but her daughter’s final words before disappearing into the military convoy. “She turned back and asked me to look after her little sister,” she recalled. “Then she just walked away.” Before her arrest, Nada’s life revolved around school. Her mother described her as a quiet, high-achieving student who consistently ranked at the top of her class and had set her sights on excelling in the Tawjihi exams. “She kept telling her brother that she wanted to finish first,” Gharam said, referring to Nada’s older brother, Wadie, who was killed by Israeli forces in May 2025. “She wanted to achieve what he couldn’t.” Her family says that even from prison, education remains at the forefront of her thoughts. Through messages relayed by lawyers and released prisoners, Nada continues to ask about school, her grades and whether she will be able to resume her education after her release. Protesters worldwide mark Palestinian Prisoners' Day, call for repeal of execution law Read More » “She tells me not to cry,” her mother said. “She says she’ll come back, continue her studies and make me proud.” Instead of preparing for final exams alongside her classmates, Nada now measures time through court dates and messages exchanged through lawyers and released prisoners. Her mother says her daughter remains determined to return to school despite the uncertainty surrounding her case. The arrest left a void in the family’s daily life. Gharam, from the town of Tammun in the occupied West Bank’s Tubas governorate, says she and her daughter shared almost everything, from long conversations at home to short evening drives after a busy day. “I miss everything about her,” she said. “We used to talk for hours, laugh together, and even cry together after her brother was killed.” “'Don’t worry, I’m Wadie’s sister.' This is the last thing I’ve heard from Nada before the Israeli army deprived me of her." 'I just want to hold her again' For months, Nada has remained in Damon Prison as her case has moved slowly through the military court system. According to her mother, nearly every hearing has ended with another postponement. Her family says that, as one of the youngest Palestinian female prisoners, Nada has at times been held separately from the general prison population alongside another detained minor. In the messages she has managed to send through lawyers and released prisoners, she has spoken less about her legal case than about school, asking whether she will still be able to continue her education after her release. At the end of December, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) was holding 351 Palestinian minors in detention or in prison on what it defined “security” grounds as well as also holding 106 Palestinian minors for being in Israel illegally. Despite months in prison, Gharam says Nada has tried to reassure her in every message that reaches home. “She always tells me not to cry,” her mother said. “She tells me she’ll come back, continue her studies and make me proud.” If given the chance to speak to her daughter today, Gharam says there is only one thing she would want her to know. “I’m proud of her,” she said. “I just want to hold her again.” A set of Nada Bani Odeh's textbooks (Mojahid Nawahda/MEE) Nada’s story, however, is not unique. More than three months after her arrest, another 16-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl from the same town of Tammun, Ola Qutaishat, was taken from her family home during a pre-dawn Israeli military raid in strikingly similar circumstances. Like Nada, Ola Qutaishat was asleep when Israeli soldiers arrived. In the early hours of 24 May, heavily armed Israeli forces raided her family’s home in the town of Tammun, northeast of Tubas, waking the household without warning. Her older sister recalled that the family had gone to bed expecting an ordinary night, with Ola spending the evening studying English for an upcoming school exam. 'I kept telling them, "She’s only 16 years old. Why are you taking her?"...She wasn’t carrying anything. She wasn’t a threat' - Ola Qutaishat's sister “We woke up to soldiers standing over our heads,” her sister told Middle East Eye. “Ola had been studying English before we went to sleep. She was supposed to continue studying the next morning.” The soldiers separated the women from the men and confined Ola and her sister to another room while they searched the house. According to the family, the soldiers did not explain why they had come or present an arrest warrant. Instead, they questioned Ola, confirmed her identity, and began photographing her before ordering the family aside. Moments later, the soldiers handcuffed the 16-year-old and blindfolded her in front of her family. Her father tried to intervene, telling the soldiers that he had recently undergone surgery, but the family says he was pushed back as Ola pleaded with them not to hurt him. “My father rushed toward them asking, ‘What are you doing? Why are you handcuffing her?’” her sister said. “They covered her eyes, and we were all in shock. She is just a child.” The family says Ola’s sister clung to her, trying to stop the soldiers from taking her away. “I kept telling them, ‘She’s only 16 years old. Why are you taking her?’” she said. “She wasn’t carrying anything. She wasn’t a threat. She was only thinking about her English exam.” After taking Ola outside, the soldiers continued questioning her while demanding her mobile phone. According to the family, they warned that they would damage the house if the phone was not handed over. Soon afterwards, they left with the teenager, leaving her family with no clear explanation of the accusations against her. Systematic repression Ola has remained in Damon Prison while her case progresses. Her father said she has appeared before the court several times, but each hearing has ended in another postponement. According to her family, the allegation against her is “incitement”, yet no formal verdict has been issued. Her father said even the military judge questioned prosecutors over the lack of progress in the case. “They keep postponing the hearings,” he told MEE. “The judge asked them, ‘Why have you brought this girl here? Why isn’t the case ready?’” Like Nada, Ola has been held in isolation from the main population of Palestinian women prisoners. According to both families, the two underage girls have been kept together in a separate section of Damon Prison, away from the adult detainees, and are reportedly allowed out separately from the rest of the prisoners. 'We were scared to die': The West Bank workers hiding in bins to reach Israel Read More » The 16-year-old Ola dreamed of becoming a journalist, believing that journalism gives a voice to those who cannot be heard and tells the world the truth about the occupation. But before she could fulfil that dream, the Israeli occupation silenced her voice. According to lawyer Hasan Abadi, Damon Prison has become a living grave for prisoners, especially since 7 October 2023. Cells contain no ventilation, food is poor quality, illnesses go untreated, there are no spare clothes or cleaning supplies, and they are subjected to strip searches. Abadi said the prison is also severely overcrowded, with eight female prisoners held in a single cell that contains only four beds, forcing four of them to sleep on the floor. However, Ola and Nada are even in an even worse situation. As underage, they are being held alone in a separate cell, in complete isolation and under constant surveillance, with no privacy at all. Even during their menstrual periods, they reportedly have no access to sanitary pads. “What is happening in Damon Prison is not merely a series of isolated violations, but a systematic regime of oppression, starvation, and humiliation aimed at breaking Palestinian women physically and psychologically," said Abadi. "With every testimony, it becomes increasingly clear that the prison is no longer just a place of detention, but an instrument of slow death carried out in cold blood," the lawyer continued. "Despite all this suffering, the female prisoners continue to resist, holding on to the Quran, their stories, and their memories as a final shield protecting their humanity." Occupation Teebah Assi Tammun, occupied West Bank News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0