New Wave of Scabies Skin Disease Sweeps Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Cells in Israeli Occupation Prisons

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society

May 24, 2025

Ramallah, occupied Palestine – The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement on Sunday that a dangerous and rapidly escalating outbreak of scabies skin disease is sweeping through prisoners’ sections in several central prisons.

This information is based on dozens of visits conducted by lawyers of the PPS to Palestinian political prisoners during April and May 2026. The visits revealed shocking levels of human suffering and an intentional health catastrophe inside the prisons amid deliberate deprivation of treatment and healthcare.

Israeli occupation prisons have effectively been turned into contaminated environments where diseases and epidemics are being used as systematic tools of torture against Palestinian political prisoners. In overcrowded cells and rooms holding no fewer than eight prisoners, at least three prisoners are infected with scabies, amid a complete lack of minimum hygiene standards and humane care.

In recent days, occupation authorities canceled many scheduled lawyers’ visits after lawyers were informed that the prisoners they intended to visit were infected with scabies. This constitutes a dangerous indication of the scale of the epidemic spreading inside the prisons and attempts to conceal the catastrophic health conditions facing prisoners.

The PPS explained that the prisons of “Ofer,” “Megiddo,” “Naqab,” and “Ganot” are among the facilities where testimonies documented the widespread spread of the disease. In addition, prisoners in “Megiddo” prison have exhibited serious health symptoms, including severe abdominal and head pain and intense aches throughout the body, raising grave concerns about the spread of additional diseases and epidemics amid the complete absence of any genuine medical follow-up.

Many infected prisoners had previously contracted the disease and partially recovered, only to become reinfected due to the continued deadly health conditions inside the prisons. Others have been suffering from the disease for several months, with some remaining infected for more than five consecutive months without effective treatment or serious medical intervention.

If left untreated, scabies can develop into multiple serious complications and secondary illnesses. Persistent scratching can cause bacterial skin infections such as impetigo, cellulitis, boils, and abscesses. These infections may spread into the bloodstream and become life-threatening.

The PPS stated that many prisoners are now suffering from boils, skin ulcers, and severe infections resulting from the worsening disease and lack of treatment. Prisoners are also being deprived of sleep because of intense itching and continuous pain, while some have lost the ability to move normally due to the deterioration of their health conditions.

The psychological suffering endured by prisoners has reached unprecedented levels as a result of the prolonged illness and the physical and mental exhaustion they have suffered over many months. Some prisoners now say that their sole wish is to recover from the disease after daily suffering has crushed them, leaving them unable to think about anything else, including their freedom.

The Israeli occupation’s prison administration continues to impose a range of policies and measures that constitute the primary reasons behind the continued spread and expansion of the disease. These include the deliberate deprivation of personal hygiene supplies, severe overcrowding inside prison rooms, lack of ventilation, deprivation of exposure to sunlight, and a severe shortage of clothing, forcing prisoners to wash and wear their clothes while still wet under degrading and inhumane conditions.

What is taking place inside the prisons cannot be separated from the ongoing policies of torture and extermination against prisoners. The prison system is using diseases, epidemics, and medical crimes as tools of slow killing against detainees within a systematic policy aimed at destroying them physically and psychologically.

These policies have, since the start of the Gaza genocide, led to the killing of 89 identified Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prison. Diseases, including scabies, were among the most prominent factors contributing to the deaths of several prisoners amid the continued policy of denial of treatment and ongoing medical crimes.

The PPS renewed its call on the World Health Organization and all international human rights and humanitarian institutions to take urgent and immediate action to stop the systematic medical crimes committed against prisoners, pressure the occupation authorities to end the policies that have turned prisons into centers of epidemics, torture, and slow killing, ensure the urgent provision of treatment and healthcare for prisoners, hold the occupation accountable for the ongoing crimes committed against them, and end the continuing state of impotence and complicity.