Ramallah (UNA/WAFA) – Palestinian prisoners’ institutions (Addameer Prisoner Support, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, and the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs) sent an urgent appeal to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, demanding immediate international intervention in light of the escalating health crisis among prisoners in Israeli prisons, in addition to the ongoing systematic crimes and policies aimed at killing more of them.
In a joint statement issued Wednesday, the Palestinian Prisoners' Institutions highlighted a widespread outbreak of scabies and amoebic infection, in addition to serious skin diseases, chronic diarrhea, and persistent vomiting, amid systematic medical neglect by the Israeli prison system. This constitutes part of the medical crimes that have escalated in an unprecedented manner since the start of the genocide.
She confirmed that every prisoner visited by legal teams suffers from at least one health problem, reflecting the scale of the health catastrophe.
She pointed out that at least 65 Palestinian prisoners were martyred, including a child who died as a result of a complex crime due to his illness and exposure to the crime of starvation, and that there was a widespread outbreak of disease in various prisons - specifically - in the prisons of: the Negev, Megiddo, Gilboa, and Of.
She explained that children detained in Ofer prison are showing symptoms of undiagnosed and untreated skin diseases, amidst systematic deprivation of basic hygiene supplies and medical care.
The World Health Organization called for immediate pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to comply with international health standards and the Geneva Conventions, provide essential medicines and urgent medical care, including referrals to external hospitals for critical cases, establish an independent international medical oversight body within the occupation's prisons, and hold the occupation authorities accountable for their ongoing violations and crimes against Palestinian prisoners.
Prisoners' organizations emphasized that "the deliberate denial of healthcare and hygiene supplies constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment," calling on the international community, particularly the World Health Organization, to take immediate action to save the lives of thousands of prisoners in Israeli prisons.
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