GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society warned Sunday of a “dangerous and rapidly spreading” outbreak of scabies inside Israeli prisons, saying the disease has expanded across several major detention facilities while prisoners are being denied basic medical care.
In a statement, the organization said dozens of lawyer visits conducted during April and May 2026 revealed “shocking levels of suffering and health collapse” inside the prisons, warning of a “deliberate and escalating health catastrophe.”
The group said Israeli prisons have turned into “infected environments where disease and epidemics are being used as systematic tools of torture against prisoners,” noting that overcrowded cells holding around eight detainees often contain “at least three prisoners infected with scabies.”
According to the statement, the prisons of Ofer, Megiddo, Negev, and Ganot are witnessing the widest spread of the disease. Prisoners in Megiddo prison reportedly suffer from severe pain and dangerous health symptoms “without any real medical follow-up.”
The organization said some detainees have become reinfected because of the harsh detention conditions, while others have suffered from scabies for more than five months “without effective treatment.”
The statement also described the spread of boils, ulcers, and severe infections among prisoners, adding that many are deprived of sleep due to intense itching and constant pain. Some prisoners’ health conditions have deteriorated to the point where they can no longer move normally.
It added that the psychological suffering inside prisons has reached “unprecedented levels,” with some detainees saying their only wish is “to recover from the disease.”
The rights center attributed the outbreak to overcrowding, lack of hygiene, poor ventilation, deprivation of sunlight, and shortages of clothing and basic supplies. Some detainees, it said, are “forced to wear wet clothes” because of the conditions inside the prisons.
The statement further revealed that Israeli prison authorities recently canceled several legal visits for prisoners infected with scabies, describing the move as an attempt “to conceal the scale of the health disaster” inside the detention facilities.
The organization accused the Israeli prison system of using disease and medical neglect as a policy of “slow killing” against Palestinian prisoners, noting that since the start of the war on Gaza, 89 prisoners and detainees whose identities were confirmed have died in Israeli custody. Diseases, particularly scabies, were identified as one of the leading causes of deaths inside prisons.
The group called on the World Health Organization and international institutions to urgently intervene to stop the “medical crimes” against prisoners and to hold Israel accountable for policies that have “turned prisons into centers of epidemics, torture, and slow death.”
