GAZA, (PIC)
Palestinian prisoner advocacy organizations issued an urgent appeal on Wednesday to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, calling for immediate intervention over the worsening health conditions of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.
In a statement, the organizations warned that scabies continues to spread widely throughout several prisons and detention facilities amid ongoing prison policies and conditions that have intensified the health crisis and turned it into a serious threat affecting thousands of detainees.
The groups noted that they had previously contacted the WHO in April 2025 regarding the outbreak, but testimonies and evidence collected since then indicate a significant deterioration in prisoners’ health conditions, with the disease continuing to spread and little effort being made to contain it or provide adequate treatment.
According to accounts from released detainees and from lawyers, infected prisoners are suffering from severe itching, skin infections, chronic pain, sleep deprivation, and serious psychological and physical consequences resulting from the lack of proper medical care.
The organizations also warned that detained children are being exposed to the same conditions, increasing the health risks they face. They said the outbreak is directly linked to harsh detention conditions, including severe overcrowding, lack of basic hygiene supplies, restrictions on bathing, poor sanitary conditions, failure to isolate infected detainees, and the systematic denial of medical treatment.
They stressed that these conditions constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights standards, reflecting a dangerous level of deliberate neglect that threatens detainees’ lives, health, and human dignity.
The organizations urged the WHO to take immediate and practical steps, including publicly acknowledging the spread of scabies and other infectious diseases among Palestinian detainees and allowing independent international medical teams to enter prisons and detention centers to assess conditions firsthand.
They also called on the international community to pressure Israeli authorities to provide immediate treatment for infected prisoners, ensure access to hygiene supplies and clean clothing, improve health and sanitation conditions inside detention facilities, reduce overcrowding, prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and provide special medical protection for children and other vulnerable groups.
The organizations emphasized that the continued spread of scabies and the denial of healthcare to detainees represent an urgent humanitarian and public health crisis requiring immediate international intervention. They held Israeli authorities fully responsible for the lives and well-being of Palestinian prisoners and renewed calls for the international community and relevant UN bodies to act swiftly to end ongoing violations against them.