The Nightmare of Prisoners in Occupation Prisons: The Scabies Disease
September 18, 2025 – Union for Justice Foundation
Since the beginning of this year, a striking phenomenon has emerged — the spread of scabies among Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. This health condition has become a serious source of concern due to its direct impact on the physical and psychological well-being of the prisoners.
This outbreak comes amid harsh detention conditions and the complete absence of basic necessities of life inside the prisons, turning the disease into a real threat to the right to health and human dignity, both of which are guaranteed by international laws and conventions.
The spread of this disease has been particularly concentrated in Negev Desert Prison and Megiddo Prison, and it quickly spread to other prisons as a result of the Israeli occupation’s and the Israeli Prison Service’s deliberate policy of turning this illness into a form of collective punishment against Palestinian prisoners.
Scabies is a contagious skin disease accompanied by intense itching and the appearance of blisters all over the body, often leaving permanent marks even after recovery. The main cause of the scabies outbreak in Israeli prisons lies in the punitive measures imposed by the Israeli Prison Service on Palestinian detainees after October 7, 2023. These measures included the confiscation and withdrawal of all prisoners’ basic necessities, such as clothing, bedding, blankets, and eating utensils, and most critically, personal hygiene items such as body wash and toothpaste. Prisoners were also denied access to showers or shaving for long periods, with no clean water available, amounting to a crime against humanity committed against prisoners — in blatant violation of all international charters and conventions concerning human rights and the rights of prisoners.
Through interviews conducted by the Union for Justice Foundation with several released prisoners, it was revealed that the prison administration deliberately carried out frequent and systematic transfers of prisoners between different prisons to spread the disease to as many detainees as possible — a tactic aimed at breaking their will and resilience. The prisoners also reported that the prison authorities intentionally withheld necessary medical treatment, despite numerous requests submitted by human rights organizations and prisoners’ lawyers to both the Israeli Prison Service and the Israeli Supreme Court. Moreover, the administration deliberately transferred healthy prisoners into cells housing infected prisoners, causing further spread of the disease.
As part of its ongoing monitoring of prisoners’ conditions in Israeli occupation prisons, the Union for Justice Foundation reported, through the testimony of one released prisoner, that the prison administration granted each prisoner only one piece of clothing, regardless of the duration of their detention, even if it extended for years.
This policy has been one of the main causes behind the outbreak and rapid spread of scabies among prisoners, especially after October 7, due to the severe overcrowding inside the prison sections. Cells that were originally meant to hold 10 prisoners now sometimes contain 20.
In the testimony of one released prisoner who was infected with scabies, he stated:
“This disease became a nightmare for the prisoners inside the prison. There isn’t a single prisoner who hasn’t been infected or suffered from it since after October 7, when the prisons turned from a place of torment into eternal hell. Day by day, the disease devoured my body. I couldn’t sleep at night because of the severe itching, nor could I carry out daily tasks because of the spread of boils. I fainted several times. There was no treatment, no clean clothes. After my release, I was forbidden from hugging my family for two weeks to protect them — and that feeling was more painful than the disease itself.”
Based on these testimonies, the Union for Justice Foundation concludes that the Israeli Prison Service, under the direct orders of the occupation government, is imposing the harshest and most inhumane punishments on Palestinian prisoners. This constitutes a violation of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, particularly Articles 13, 14, and 15, which affirm the right of prisoners to humane treatment and prohibit any form of torture or humiliation. It also violates the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), whose Article 12 guarantees every prisoner the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including access to medical care and treatment. The Union for Justice Foundation further notes that after October 7, the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons has exceeded 10,800, including 3,613 administrative detainees held without any charge — the highest number recorded since the First Intifada. Among them are at least 450 children, 49 female prisoners, and 76 martyrs who have died in prison, according to the latest statistics from the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs (August 2025).
