Prisoner Rights Watchdog: Israel Deliberately Spreading Diseases Among Palestinian Detainees
Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club revealed on Monday that Israeli authorities are deliberately spreading diseases among Palestinian detainees. In a statement, the group said Israel is intentionally transferring sick detainees between jails to infect others.
Testimonies from detainees revealed that Israeli forces moved inmates suffering from contagious diseases without proper medical diagnosis. Sick detainees were transferred from Megiddo Prison in the north to Negev Prison in the south, leading to a major outbreak there.
Detainees in Negev have reported severe stomach pains, constant vomiting, extreme weakness, and widespread scabies infections. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club warned that these symptoms signal a growing health disaster behind bars.
The group stressed that Israel’s prison administration has enforced brutal measures since the start of the Gaza genocide, causing the spread of diseases. “These policies are directly responsible for the worsening health crisis and the deaths of many detainees,” the statement said.
As of April 2025, more than 9,900 Palestinians are held in Israel’s detention centres. Among them are 3,498 administrative detainees held without charge or trial, at least 400 children, and 27 women.
Before October 2023, the number of Palestinian detainees stood at around 5,250. Since then, Israel has launched a campaign of mass arrests and harsh detentions.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club documented 63 deaths among detainees since the start of the genocide, including 40 detainees from Gaza. The latest victim was a child, Walid Ahmad, who died from torture and medical neglect. Rights groups say that the numbers do not include those kidnapped from Gaza.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with full U.S. support, has been carrying out a genocide in Gaza that killed or injured around 170,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, with more than 11,000 people still missing.
