Palestinian Institutions Urge WHO Intervention as Scabies Spreads in Israeli Prisons

Palestinian institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs issued an urgent call to the World Health Organization to intervene as scabies spreads among Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, warning that the health crisis is worsening and affecting children.

The Anadolu Ajansı report says the joint statement was sent to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and describes scabies as the most pressing problem facing prisoners, including children, amid reports of torture and medical neglect.

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Anadolu Ajansı also reports that more than 9,600 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons, including about 350 children and 84 women, and that scabies continues to spread widely under policies and procedures imposed on prisoners within the prison system.

The appeal ties the outbreak to detention conditions including overcrowding in cells, deprivation of basic cleaning supplies, restrictions on bathing, failure to isolate the infected, and denial of treatment.

The institutions urged the WHO to acknowledge the outbreak and allow independent international medical teams to enter detention centers to assess health conditions, while calling on Israeli authorities to provide immediate treatment and improve hygiene and public health conditions.

In a separate case reported by The Times of Israël, Judge Ehud Kaplan of the Hadera court ruled that Walid Ahmad, 17, had "apparently suffered from malnutrition" during his detention in Israel before he collapsed and died last year.

The Times of Israël says Ahmad was arrested for throwing a Molotov cocktail and placed under administrative detention, and that after about six months in detention he collapsed and died in March 2025.

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The Times of Israël reports that a report prepared by Dr. Daniel Solomon, who assisted in the autopsy conducted by Israeli experts at the request of the Ahmad family, found extreme malnutrition and signs of colon inflammation and scabies.

The Israeli judge’s decision, issued in December and released this week after an appeal filed by Haaretz, stated that Kaplan later argued that no causal link could be established between the detainee’s physical condition and his death.

ISM-France reports that Judge Ehud Kaplan acknowledged Ahmad was 'likely to have died of starvation' and closed the case while citing autopsy results from the Israeli National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) that found Ahmad was extremely underweight, suffered from scabies and infections, and left the exact cause of death undetermined.

L'Humanité reports that Sara Bashi, director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, denounced arrests Israel is pursuing in the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire and warned about an Israeli intention to impose the death penalty on Palestinians.

“Several organizations specializing in prisoners' affairs issued an urgent appeal to the World Health Organization for immediate intervention amid the escalating outbreak of scabies among Palestinian prisoners, including children, and the deterioration of health conditions in Israeli occupation prisons”

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The same report cites a B'Tselem document titled 'Welcome to Hell' that updates an August 2024 report with 21 new testimonies and includes a description by Tamer Qarmut from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza of being sexually assaulted with a baton by Israeli soldiers.

L'Humanité says that at the Sde Teiman detention center, Qarmut told B'Tselem: "They kept me naked, and soldiers released dogs on me that attacked me."

L'Humanité also reports that, according to its latest report of September 2025, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) held 10,863 Palestinians classified by the Israeli regime as 'security prisoners,' and that 3,521 of them are defined as 'administrative detainees,' i.e., Palestinians imprisoned without trial.

In the scabies-focused appeals, Palestinian prisoner organizations similarly warned that the continued spread of scabies among Palestinian detainees and their deprivation of necessary treatment and care constitutes an urgent humanitarian and health issue requiring international intervention, holding Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for prisoners’ lives and safety.