RAMALLAH, (PIC)
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs warned Sunday of the continued spread of scabies inside Israel’s Ofer prison amid deliberate medical neglect by Israeli prison authorities.
In a statement issued following a lawyer’s visit to the prison, the commission said several Palestinian prisoners have been suffering from scabies for months without receiving proper medical treatment.
The commission highlighted the case of prisoner Asid Ma’rouf from the town of Safa near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, who has reportedly suffered from scabies for nearly five months.
According to the statement, sores cover his hands and parts of his body, and he experiences severe itching, especially at night, without receiving any form of treatment.
Prisoner Ata al-Barghouthi, 18, from the town of Beit Rima near Ramallah, is also suffering from scabies without receiving necessary medical care, the statement said.
The commission’s lawyer quoted al-Barghouthi as saying that conditions inside Ofer prison are “getting worse,” adding that prison authorities deliberately remove mattresses from prisoners during sleeping hours, forcing them to sleep only on their clothes.
Another prisoner, Fares Marra from the town of Beit Duqqu north of Occupied Jerusalem, who has been detained since 2022, is reportedly suffering from severe itching and scabies without treatment.
The statement also mentioned prisoner Mohammad Sharaka, 18, from Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, who is serving a 10-month sentence and suffers from painful red boils covering his body without receiving medical care.
The lawyer warned that prisoners lack sufficient clothing, noting that each prisoner has only the clothes he is wearing and is not provided replacements unless they are torn, often after long periods.
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli authorities have intensified abuses and repressive measures against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
According to Palestinian human rights organizations, these measures include medical neglect, physical and psychological torture, strip searches, starvation, and sexual abuse.
Israel is currently holding more than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 86 women and 3,376 administrative detainees. Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups say Israeli forces have carried out more than 23,000 arrests since October 2023.
