Palestinian Prisoners Club Warns Scabies Outbreak Spreads Across Israeli Prisons, Including Ofer

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society warned of a rapidly escalating scabies outbreak spreading across multiple Israeli prisons, describing “catastrophic” health conditions and severe medical neglect affecting Palestinian detainees held in overcrowded and unsanitary facilities.

“Palestinian Prisoners Club warned of a new and dangerous outbreak of scabies inside several Israeli prisons, confirming that the rate of spread has accelerated alarmingly in the recent period, amid what it described as a deliberate collapse of the health system within detention centers”

Al-Jazeera Net

The organization said prison cells holding at least eight detainees each reportedly include multiple cases of scabies infection, with lawyers describing environments lacking even the most basic sanitation standards.

Al-Jazeera Net

The Palestinian Prisoners Club similarly said dozens of visits conducted to prisoners during the months of April and May 2026 showed “shocking levels of humanitarian suffering and intentional health deterioration inside the prisons.”

It added that prisons have turned into infected environments where diseases and epidemics are used as a systematic method of torture against the prisoners, and said prisons such as "Ofer," "Megiddo," “Anqabut,” and “Janout” recorded numerous testimonies about the widespread spread of the disease.

Lawyers who visited detainees reportedly documented prisoners suffering from severe itching, skin infections, abdominal pain, headaches, and widespread body aches, with fears that additional illnesses could spread in the absence of proper medical care.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said prison authorities canceled several scheduled legal visits after informing legal teams that detainees were infected with scabies, describing the move as evidence of the scale of the outbreak and the worsening conditions inside detention facilities.

Euronews

In the account carried by İlke Haber Ajansı, the organization said many detainees had previously contracted scabies but were reinfected due to persistent overcrowding, poor hygiene conditions, and lack of treatment, while some had been suffering continuously for months without effective medical intervention.

The Times of Israël reported that Ameenah Qumber, a lawyer with HaMoked, said prisoners told her they had had scabies for months but had long been denied a doctor’s visit, adding, “We finally gave them treatment: a dose of acetaminophen and an ointment, only once over several months.”

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society claimed that 89 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have died in Israeli custody since the start of the war, citing only cases whose identities have been publicly confirmed.

“Güneşli Monday, May 25, 2026 The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has warned of a rapidly escalating scabies outbreak spreading across multiple Israeli prisons, describing the “catastrophic” health conditions and severe medical neglect affecting Palestinian detainees held in overcrowded and unsanitary facilities”

İlke Haber Ajansı

The Palestinian Prisoners Club renewed its demand for the World Health Organization and all international human rights and humanitarian organizations to take urgent and immediate action to stop the systematic medical crimes against prisoners, pressure the occupation authorities to end policies that turned prisons into hotbeds of epidemics, torture, and slow death, and work to provide urgent treatment and healthcare.

Yeni Şafak reported that the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Commission warned of worsening suffering at Ofer Prison after a lawyer visit confirmed ongoing cases of infection for months without receiving the necessary treatment, and quoted the commission’s lawyer saying, 'the situation inside Ofer Prison is getting worse day by day.'

Yeni Şafak also said rights organizations reported that Israeli authorities are detaining more than 9,400 Palestinians, including 86 female detainees and 3,376 administrative detainees, while more than 23,000 arrests have been carried out since last October.