The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has warned of the escalating crimes committed by Israel’s prison system against Palestinian detainees, saying that with every passing day of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the likelihood of more prisoner deaths becomes a grim inevitability.
In an updated report released Monday, the PPS detailed a worsening humanitarian crisis inside Israeli prisons, based on recent visits by its legal team to several detention centers including Ofer, Megiddo, Gilboa, and Negev prisons.
The report, reviewed by Days of Palestine, highlights the dangerous deterioration in prisoners’ health and the continued rise in the number of detainees who have died in custody.
According to the PPS, every inmate visited is suffering from at least one health problem—largely due to ongoing medical neglect and deliberate starvation policies.
The report also reveals the widespread outbreak of scabies, a painful skin disease, in overcrowded and unsanitary prison conditions.
Many prisoners who had previously recovered from the disease have since been reinfected, as Israeli prison authorities continue to deny detainees access to basic hygiene supplies.
Scabies outbreaks are particularly severe in Megiddo and Negev prisons. Inmates suffering from chronic illnesses and physical injuries are among the most vulnerable.
Lawyers observed visible boils and signs of exhaustion on the bodies of some detainees, who reported being unable to sleep due to constant itching and physical discomfort.
The situation is equally dire for child detainees. In Ofer Prison, teenage prisoners reported severe skin rashes and persistent itching without any diagnosis or treatment.
Detainees also testified about the sharp rise in physical assaults and nighttime raids. Cells are frequently stormed—sometimes multiple times a day—by Israeli forces, accompanied by attack dogs.
Certain prisoners are deliberately singled out for beatings in front of their cellmates as a form of collective punishment and intimidation.
In Gilboa Prison, two prisoners serving life sentences—Mohammed Abu al-Rub from Jenin and Khairy Ali from Nablus—described repeated beatings and humiliations since the beginning of the war on Gaza.
One wounded detainee stated that prison authorities have denied him any medical care for his injuries, leaving him in constant, unbearable pain.
The PPS emphasized that Israeli occupation forces are now using prisoners’ injuries as a method of torture. One detainee recounted being injured during a cell raid three weeks ago when a police dog with a metal muzzle attacked him, damaging an eye in which he had recently undergone lens surgery. Despite requesting immediate medical attention, he was denied access to a clinic.
“All prisoners confirm that the same oppressive policies implemented since the start of the genocide remain in full force,” the PPS said, “but now they’re worsening.”
The report confirms that these violations have become systematic, with crimes against detainees taking place continuously, contributing directly to a growing death toll inside Israeli prisons.
Since the beginning of the war on Gaza, at least 65 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody—their identities confirmed despite ongoing enforced disappearances. At least 40 of them were from Gaza.
In total, 302 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody since 1967, while the number of deceased prisoners whose bodies are still withheld by Israeli authorities has now reached 74, including 63 since the start of the ongoing war.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society called for immediate international intervention to stop the collective torture and abuse inside Israeli detention centers, and to hold Israeli authorities accountable for crimes against humanity.
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