BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel has detained three Palestinian women in recent days, bringing the total number of female prisoners to nine, the Ministry of Prisoners Affairs said Wednesday.

Ministry lawyer Shireen Iraqi said Hadeel Abu Turki, Jordanian national Nusseibeh Jaradat, and Wafaa Atteih had recently been imprisoned.

Atteih, a 29-year-old from Qalqiliya, suffers from an enlarged liver and spleen, Iraqi said in a ministry statement.

Meanwhile, prisoner Amjad Izzat Kabha told ministry lawyer Rami al-Alami that detainees in section 11 of Eshel prison were being handcuffed during meetings with their lawyers. Kabha was handcuffed during his meeting with al-Alami, the lawyer said.

Kabha, 43, said prisoners were being punished for refusing strip searches.

Prison guards impose individual and collective punishments without reasons, he added, noting that conditions had not improved despite Israeli pledges in a deal to end a month-long mass hunger strike in May.

Kabha said Israeli guards frequently raided cells, forcibly strip-searched detainees and vandalized prisoners' belongings, often leading to clashes between detainees and guards.

On Monday Israeli prison guards stormed a prison block at Nafha jail, the Palestinian prisoners society said and an Israel prisons official confirmed.

The lockdown was a response to finding banned items in the cell block, the official said.