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Rights group warns of severe skin disease outbreak among Palestinians in Israeli prison

Friday, 20 September 2024 7:17 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 20 September 2024 7:17 AM ]

The photo shows a view of Israel's Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank, on 25 November 2023. (By AFP)

The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission has warned that the outbreak of skin diseases, particularly scabies, threatens the lives of Palestinians incarcerated in Israel's Ofer prison.

In a statement released on Thursday, the commission expressed concerns about the rapid spread of scabies among young Palestinian abductees, saying they suffer from pimples, boils and redness of their skin that cause sleeplessness due to itching and pain.

It also called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to take action as unsanitary conditions, lack of hygiene products and inadequate access to cleaning supplies have turned the jail environment into a breeding ground for disease.

The rights group further said 150 out of the 260 abductees in the Ofer prison, situated in the occupied West Bank, are minors.

Young Palestinians held in the Ofer prison are subjected to additional suffering by Israeli forces instead of being protected due to their vulnerability, it added.

The commission also highlighted dire conditions in the jail, saying beatings, starvation and deprivation are severely destroying the prisoners’ mental and physical health.

Some 9,500 Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily being held in the regime’s detention facilities following a wave of arrests in the wake of the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.

Countless testimonies speak of detainees in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds blindfolded and in diapers, deprived of adequate healthcare, food, water and sleep. The victims also recount electrocutions, attacks by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual abuse.

Human rights organizations urge UN member states to act urgently to 'protect' Palestinian detainees

Human rights organizations have called on UN member states to take urgent steps to “protect people deprived of their liberty” across the occupied Palestinian territory.

Last month, a group of UN experts called for swift action to end Israel's impunity surrounding reports of heinous rights violations against Palestinian detainees.

“Torture practices are irredeemably unlawful and constitute international crimes, yet form part of the modus operandi of Israel’s notorious detention and torture system,” they said.

“These practices are intended to punish Palestinians for resisting occupation and seek to destroy them individually and collectively.”

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