Israel Extends Detention of Palestinian Women's Football Player, Arrests Four Others Suspected of Terrorist Activities

An Israeli court on Wednesday extended the detention of 20-year-old Rand Halawani, a player on the Palestinian women's national football team, until Friday, according to the Palestinian governorate for Jerusalem. Halawani was arrested Tuesday evening after being summoned for questioning in Jerusalem.

Israel's military arrested four other young Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, including former national team player Natalie Abu Diyeh, a student at Birzeit University.

The military stated that the four women were suspected of promoting terrorist activities and additional terrorist-related activities. The Palestinian Football Association denounced Halawani's prolonged detention and the arrest of the former national team player.

In a statement, the association said the arrests were "not an isolated incident, it is part of a well-documented pattern of systematic targeting of Palestinian athletes, which continues without accountability".

Birzeit University denounced the arrests as part of Israel's "systematic policies targeting Palestinian education and students' right to continue their academic journey". Bishop Imad Haddad of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, to which Abu Diyeh belonged, called for her release.

"We are deeply shocked and horrified by this news, as well as by the news that her family does not yet know where she has been taken," Haddad said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the Prisoners Club, 89 Palestinian women are currently in Israeli jails, including three minors and three pregnant women. The Prisoners Club announced in late May that more than 9,400 Palestinians were in Israeli jails, including Palestinian citizens of Israel.