Israeli forces take security measures around the Ofer Military Prison during a prisoner exchange swap with Palestinians in October 2025 [Getty]
One of four female Palestinian students detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank is suffering from health complications but remains behind bars, her family and a prisoners’ organisation have said.
Sama Safi was one of four students from Birzeit University detained during Israeli military raids in Ramallah on Tuesday, which saw the arrest of 35 Palestinians in total. The three other students in detention are Natalie Abu Diya, Jolan Abu Awwad, and Laila Nael Khalil.
According to spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, Amani Sarhanneh, they were transferred to the notorious Israeli Ofer Prison.
Safi holds US citizenship, and her family has said she is suffering from health problems. A State Department spokesperson told The New Arab that the department was aware of the detention of an American in the West Bank.
“The Trump Administration takes its commitment to assist Americans abroad seriously and we are monitoring the situation. When Americans are detained abroad, the Department advocates for their access to adequate medical care and seeks consular access as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson declined to comment further on the case, citing privacy considerations.
US Senator Chris Van Hollen, who has spoken out about Safi’s arrest, told TNA that he was pressing the US government to free her.
“I’m deeply concerned about Sama’s health and wellbeing. Her detention is unacceptable and falls in line with a disturbing pattern of mistreatment of American citizens by the [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government,” he said.
“I’ve been in contact with both the US and Israeli embassies and I’m pressing for [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio and the Trump Administration to live up to their statements that protecting Americans around the world is their top priority, and to do so by securing her immediate release.”
Lives at risk
Doctors Against Genocide (DAG), a global coalition of healthcare professionals and human rights advocates, released a statement on Friday demanding the students’ immediate release.
The group warned that the young women “face an immediate and severe risk of torture, psychological abuse, and sexual violence while held incommunicado without independent international oversight.”
Citing the UN’s recent blacklisting of Israel over conflict-related sexual violence, DAG warned that the threat to the students is underscored by the systematic and documented patterns of abuse within the Israeli prison system.
“As a physician, I am gravely alarmed that four young women students are being held in a detention system where secrecy, isolation, and documented abuse place their bodies, mental health, dignity, and lives at immediate risk,” said Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle, co-founder of DAG.
“The threat of torture, sexual violence, forced nudity, and psychological coercion must be treated as a medical emergency, not only after harm occurs, but now, while prevention is still possible,” he added.
Urging for them to be granted protection and independent medical and legal access, Dr. Kuemmerle pressed for the four students’ release without delay.
The coalition called on the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, global academic institutions, and human rights organisations to help secure the girls’ release. It also called on the US State Department to intervene in Safi’s case.
Uptick in arrests
Sarhanneh of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said Israel had intensified arrests targeting university students since the war on Gaza began in October 2023.
She said the key change is not the arrests themselves, but the level of abuse faced by Palestinian detainees.
Detaining students is intended to undermine their right to education and freedom of expression, Sarhanneh said, adding that Palestinians are demanding only the right of students to continue their education safely and uninterrupted.
The club said the number of Palestinian female prisoners in Israeli jails rose to 89 with the recent students’ arrest, including three minors, three pregnant women, 19 administrative detainees, and two prisoners with cancer.
It added that Israel has arrested more than 760 Palestinian women since the onslaught in Gaza, and that female prisoners face harsh detention conditions, including starvation, medical neglect, solitary confinement, and repeated assaults.
Since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli detentions in the occupied West Bank have spiked. Palestinian official figures say around 23,000 Palestinians have been detained during that period.
