Ramallah- A new disease lurks among thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, to the point that one of those infected described it as more severe and dangerous than beatings and hunger.
It is scabies, or “scabies”, which is rapidly spreading among prisoners as a result of poor detention conditions. This is what prompted human rights organizations to launch appeals to rescue the prisoners and ensure their treatment.
Scabies is a highly contagious disease caused by the mite. The female digs trenches inside the upper layer of the skin and lays her eggs in them, at a rate of 3 eggs per day over the course of a month. After two weeks, the eggs hatch and new insects emerge, mate and invade the skin again.
Pain that doesn’t stop
The young man, S.A., was arrested after the seventh of last October and was released a few days before from the Israeli Nafha prison. He told Tel Aviv Tribune Net the condition of the prisoners infected with the disease, describing it as “eating their bodies” and that it is “more difficult than hunger and beatings.”
The released prisoner, who refused to be photographed and preferred to remain anonymous, said that he was transferred from Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah, to Nafha Prison in the Negev Desert at the end of the month of Ramadan, where the disease had infected the vast majority of the prisoners in this prison in its eight sections, and their number is approximately two thousand prisoners. The reason is to prevent the entry of clothes and detergents.
Regarding what the patient feels – and he was one of them – he said: “It is a skin disease that eats away at the prisoner’s body, such that the pimples increase day after day, cause severe itching, and lead to bloody ulcers that increase as long as they are not treated.”
He said that the most difficult thing about the disease is its terrible spread in the armpit area, sensitive areas, the genital organ and the testicles, where it causes redness and severe pain, “to the point that we could not sleep.”
He stated that the disease has become more painful for those with chronic diseases and heart diseases, who do not receive treatment, and their suffering doubles with itching and rashes.
Regarding ways to avoid infection, the former Palestinian prisoner says that it is almost impossible due to the lack of treatment. There are no alternative clothes, no detergents, and no opportunity to be exposed to the sun, and the food is poor and in small quantities. He said that the disease does not stop except with treatment, which is not available in prisons, whether for those suffering from scabies or other diseases, explaining that upon his release, he was taken directly to the hospital, and began to recover from the disease.
The released child prisoner, Zain Sharha (15 years old), from Shuafat Camp in Jerusalem, also lived a similar experience. He narrated to Tel Aviv Tribune Net some aspects of the suffering as a result of the lack of treatment. He added that most of the child prisoners suffer from scabies, and no one hears their demands for treatment. He revealed his back and chest, on which traces of the disease are still visible.
Most of the prisoners are infected
Amjad Al-Najjar, spokesman for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, asserts that scabies has infected most of the prisoners. Speaking to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, he indicated his participation on Thursday in receiving 14 prisoners who were released from the Negev prison at the “Metar” crossing in the south of the West Bank. He said that they were in a deplorable condition, and most of them were infected with scabies, and when some of them exposed their bodies, the scenes were “chilling to the bones due to the large spread of… “The disease is upon her.”
Al-Najjar enumerates the reasons for the spread of scabies, including the lack of cleaning materials, preventing bathing or exposure to sunlight, and weather conditions suitable for the spread of the disease, such as humidity and high temperatures in some prisons, along with sweating. He stated that each prisoner is allowed to shower once a week, with every 20 prisoners given 60 minutes to shower.
In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club pointed out a “large and unprecedented increase” in the number of prisoners suffering from skin diseases in Israeli occupation prisons, specifically the contagious scabies disease, in addition to prisoners suffering from other contagious skin diseases whose nature they could not know.
The club’s spokesman explained that the occupation prison administration continues to escalate its “systematic medical crimes” and deliberately leaves the prisoners without treatment. In fact, “the biggest crime it is committing today against the prisoners is deliberately transferring those infected with contagious diseases from one section to another,” which has contributed to Increasing numbers of infections.
Children are in danger
On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners (official) said on Saturday that child prisoners in Megiddo Prison are suffering from the spread of scabies, which has appeared extensively as a result of being deprived of showers, confiscating their clothes, and preventing the entry of soap, shampoo, detergents, and sterilizers.
It quoted child prisoners as saying during lawyers’ visits that the infection was increasing daily, while they were denied treatment and visits to the prison clinic, pointing to cases in which the disease had reached advanced stages.
She added, quoting the children imprisoned in Megiddo prison, who said, “There is a real danger threatening our lives. Symptoms of the disease appear on our bodies in a way that is disturbing both health-wise and psychologically.” The vast majority cannot sleep due to aches and pains, spontaneous and strong itching, and the spread of wounds and ulcers.
The Commission expressed its concern for the lives of the “cubs” prisoners (child prisoners in prisons), calling on local and international child protection institutions and committees to strive seriously to stop these crimes against them, and to put an end to the occupation’s prison administration’s monopolization of them.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, the occupation prisons have become overcrowded with prisoners, as the prison administration places every 12 to 14 prisoners in a room that can accommodate 6 prisoners.
It is noteworthy that 8,985 Palestinians have been arrested since October 7, 2023, including about 630 children. The total number of prisoners inside prisons at the beginning of last May was estimated at approximately 9,300 male and female prisoners.