RAMALLAH, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said at least ten women prisoners have been infected with scabies inside Damon Prison, citing recent visits by human rights organizations to examine their conditions and detention circumstances.
In a statement issued on Monday, the PPS said the infected prisoners are among more than 90 women held by Israel in the prison, including pregnant prisoners, girls and others suffering from chronic illnesses and health problems.
The society linked the spread of the disease to harsh health and humanitarian conditions imposed by the Israeli prison administration, foremost among them high humidity, shortages of cleaning materials, overcrowding in cells, poor ventilation and a severe lack of clothing.
It explained that these conditions have contributed to the wide spread of the disease among prisoners since May 2024.
The PPS stated that the continued spread of scabies more than two years after it was first documented reflects the absence of any serious response by the prison system.
It added that Israeli responses to petitions filed by rights organizations, including Physicians for Human Rights, have remained limited and have not brought about changes that provide prisoners with the protection they need.
The society warned that scabies has become a real health threat to detainees’ lives amid denial of treatment, worsening health conditions and complications that have reached dangerous levels in some cases.
It cited the case of child detainee Mohammed Hmeid, whose scabies infection and the subsequent bacterial infection caused damage to his nervous system and ultimately led to the amputation of one of his legs.
The PPS said large numbers of prisoners have contracted the disease and partially recovered before being infected again because the same conditions persist.
Other prisoners have remained infected for more than five months without receiving real treatment, suffering from skin ulcers, severe inflammation and intense itching that deprives them of sleep and restricts their movement.
The society further elaborated that these conditions, along with denial of treatment, fall within a broader system of torture and systematic medical neglect, pointing to the use of epidemics and diseases as tools to exhaust and abuse detainees.
The PPS renewed its call for the World Health Organization and international rights institutions to act urgently to stop Israeli medical crimes, pressure Israel to end the disease-producing environment inside prisons, ensure treatment and health care for detainees, open a serious international investigation and hold those responsible for these policies accountable.
Scabies is a contagious skin disease caused by a microscopic mite that burrows into the skin, causing severe and painful itching, as well as sores and infections that can worsen in the absence of proper treatment and health care.
According to testimonies from released prisoners cited by the PPS, the disease has become a severe ordeal that deprives infected detainees of sleep and restricts their ability to move. Several released prisoners described it as one of the most painful forms of suffering they endured inside Israeli prisons.
The disease has spread further inside prisons amid shortages of basic cleaning materials, reduced water supplies, denial of exposure to sunlight, severe overcrowding in cells and lack of adequate ventilation.
According to rights data cited by the PPS, the crisis is also worsened by practices involving the transfer of prisoners with contagious diseases to sections holding uninfected prisoners, along with the denial of real treatment, further expanding the circle of infection.
Rights data indicates that 91 Palestinian prisoners have died inside Israeli prisons since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, including 53 detainees from the Gaza Strip, as a result of policies of torture, starvation, medical crimes and deliberate neglect.
