Approximately 80% of Palestinian Political Prisoners Infected With Scabies

Intensifying Violent Raids on Cells Every Two to Three Days 

Palestinian Prisoner's Society

Ramallah, November 8, 2026 – Some 80 percent of all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons, including both males and females and children, are infected with the human skin infestation disease, Scabies, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) said in a briefing on Sunday based on information gathered during lawyers’ visits to current and former detainees throughout the months of October and early November 2026. 

The briefing also highlights testimonies revealing horrific levels of violence and abuse at the hands of occupation authorities and prison services. Prisoners reported severe beatings resulting in severed hand tendons requiring surgery, broken teeth, and widespread bruising. During a large-scale raid on 28 October 2026, prisoners were sprayed with gas and fired at with rubber-coated bullets, leaving three injured, while several cells were stormed and prisoners severely beaten. 

The atmosphere of terror is such that prisoners live in constant fear of routine security inspections, which frequently precede violent raids and assaults. Israeli occupation prisons have become a central arena of the ongoing crime of genocide, and what is taking place inside them constitutes a systematic policy rather than isolated violations.

Prisoners spoken to focused on four main violations and crimes: the continued spread of scabies; the deterioration of the health conditions of sick prisoners, those with chronic illnesses, and injured prisoners, many of whom require surgery and assistive devices; repeated violent raids; and daily abuse and torture. 

According to the available figures, the total number of Palestinian political prisoners has exceeded 9,300 people, including approximately 90 female prisoners.

Violent Assaults 

Dozens of prisoners said special units affiliated with the occupation’s Prison Service raid and attack prison sections and cells carrying various types of weapons and accompanied by police dogs. In recent months, dozens of injuries have been recorded from rubber-coated bullets and new weapons still unknown to prisoners, who describe them according to the effects they have on their bodies. Some cause burns, while others leave prisoners unable to move for long periods of time. 

Severe beatings result in broken teeth and ribs, as well as bruising across prisoners' bodies. While the frequency varies from one prison to another, repression and violent assaults continue, with no more than two weeks between one raid and the next. In some sections, raids recur every two or three days, targeting selected cells. 

Scabies and Denial of Clothing

Thousands of prisoners are suffering from severe shortages of clothing, which is one of the main factors contributing to the spread of scabies. According to testimonies from prisoners visited by legal teams and those who have been released, approximately 80% of prisoners, including children, are infected, with no genuine treatment provided and no attempt made to address the underlying causes.

The bathing crisis has worsened in some sections of the Negev Prison following a major breakdown in the showers. This comes alongside severe overcrowding in many central prisons, particularly amid the continuation of daily arrest campaigns.

Starvation

The food provided has remained severely low in terms of quantity and quality. The physical condition of the prisoners upon release stands as living testimony to the ongoing crime of starvation, which has continued for three years.

Growing concerns surround thousands of prisoners, particularly those serving lengthy sentences, over whether their bodies will be able to withstand this policy if it continues.

Testimonies from Naqab ‘Negev’ Prison as an Example 

In this report, initials are used instead of prisoners' names as many were afraid to speak after others were severely beaten while being transferred to their lawyers’ visits and threatened. Their fear was clearly visible on their faces to the lawyer. 

Prisoner (A. B.) said he had been subjected to a violent raid that resulted in severed tendons in his hand, and that he requires surgery. He also reported another raid on October 28, 2026, carried out by the repressive prison forces in Section (24) at 7:00 a.m., during which prisoners' mattresses were confiscated and they were assaulted.

In Section (26), prisoner (M. K.) sustained fractures to two of his teeth as a result of an assault. According to the lawyer who visited him, the prisoner's fear was clearly evident as he spoke about what he had endured. Prisoners were also not permitted to sign the necessary power of attorney document during the visit to enable their legal cases to be pursued.

For his part, prisoner (M. S.) said the prison administration deliberately removes prisoners' mattresses throughout the daytime, worsening their suffering and forcing them to sit on the floor or on the iron beds. He pointed out that this policy places an even heavier burden on sick and elderly prisoners, particularly those suffering from bone and limb conditions.

Prisoner (M. H.) also reported that permission for prisoners to go out into the prison yard is granted at the guards' discretion. He noted that the majority of prisoners held in cells are forced to sleep on the floor because of severe overcrowding.

In Section (25), prisoner (N. Y.) described the fear and anxiety experienced by prisoners, particularly as the time approaches for the headcount, or what is known as the "security inspection," which is often associated with repressive raids and severe physical assaults. He reported having been beaten and sustaining bruises in various parts of his body.

On October 28, 2026, prisoner (D. H.) reported that prisoners in Section (24) had been subjected to a large-scale repressive raid, during which they were sprayed with gas and rubber-coated bullets were fired at them. Three prisoners were injured by rubber-coated bullets, while several cells were simultaneously stormed and prisoners subjected to severe beatings.

Women Prisoners at Damon Prison

The testimonies of women prisoners are no less horrific: starvation, systematic repression, searches and abuse, and deprivation of all rights, including healthcare and special needs, which have themselves been turned into tools of humiliation.

Conditions have deteriorated further with the recent increase in the number of women prisoners, overcrowding, and clothing shortages. Some women suffer from limb spasms as a result of the pills and severe itching that have deprived them of sleep due to scabies.

Despite this, the prison administration continues to deny that they are infected with scabies, claiming instead that they have allergies, even though medical tests conducted on women prisoners who have been released confirmed that they had scabies.

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The PPS stressed that the consistency of these testimonies across different prisons and sections demonstrates a general pattern of torture, starvation, and medical crimes. It renewed its call on the international human rights system to end its continued failure to act in the face of the grave crimes committed by the Israeli occupation system against prisoners, which are intended to destroy them physically and psychologically.