In a statement released on Friday, January 9, Abd al-Naser Farawna, the head of the census unit at the Palestinian Authority Department of Prisoner Affairs announced that 112 Palestinian women and girls were arrested by Israeli military forces in 2014, a 70 percent increase from 2013.

A Palestinian youth holds aloft a poster of Hana Shalabi, during a rally near the Old City of Jerusalem on March 24, 2012. The demonstration took place in support of the imprisoned Shalabi, who was conducting a hunger strike at the time, in protest for her administrative detention by Israel. (Photo: Archivestills.org)

According to the Maan News Agency, the official indicated that among the females arrested in 2014, two were prisoners released in the 2011 Shalit prisoner exchange. Farawna said there are currently 21 female Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Around 7,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, more than 2,000 of whom were arrested by Occupation Forces during this past summer’s high tension and extreme violence in the West Bank and Gaza.