RAMALLAH, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), A contagious scabies outbreak is spreading rapidly among Palestinian detainees held at Gilboa prison, amid what prisoners’ advocates describe as an entrenched policy of medical neglect and escalating abuse by Israeli occupation authorities.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Asra Media Office (AMO) said the disease is worsening under “extremely harsh” living and health conditions, accusing prison authorities of deliberately denying detainees proper treatment and neglecting basic hygiene measures inside cell blocks.
The Office said the absence of hygiene has fueled the spread of multiple skin diseases, constituting a serious violation of humanitarian and health standards.
Detainees are also enduring severe cold inside their cells without heating, the statement said. Prisoners are reportedly forced to wear light, inadequate clothing and are limited to a single change of clothes, compounding daily suffering and accelerating health deterioration.
The AMO further reported a marked escalation in repression, including repeated provocations and physical assaults against detainees, as well as documented cases of electric shocks. It said the punitive measures are directly linked to the worsening health crisis, amounting to collective punishment.
Living conditions have deteriorated across the facility, the statement added, citing reduced food quantities, fewer loaves of bread, and cuts to outdoor recreation time to just one hour per day. These measures, it warned, are intensifying malnutrition and illness among prisoners.
Describing the situation as a “compound crime,” the AMO held Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the dangerous decline in detainees’ health and humanitarian conditions, stressing that medical neglect has become a systematic tool of punishment within the prison system. Previous reports by Al Jazeera Net have documented similar patterns.
The Office called on international human rights and humanitarian organizations to intervene urgently, press for accountability, and act to save detainees’ lives.
According to Palestinian figures, more than 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 3,385 under administrative detention, amid growing warnings of a deepening health crisis driven by Israeli occupation policies.
