Palestinian political prisoners, including a significant number of minors, held in Israeli detention facilities, notably Megiddo Prison, face deliberate policies imposed by the Israel Prison Service that have led to severe food deprivation and the spread of infectious diseases.
These conditions have resulted in drastic weight loss, emaciation, and in several cases, the deaths of detainees. The detainees routinely suffer torture and violent abuse at the hands of their jailers.
One harrowing case occurred in March when 17-year-old detainee Walid Ahmad collapsed in the prison yard and died.
A physician, appointed by the family to observe the autopsy, reported that Walid’s body was nearly devoid of essential fat tissue, vital for energy storage, organ protection, insulation, and hormonal regulation. He was also found to have contracted both scabies and colitis, which are rampant in Megiddo Prison.
Israeli authorities have not launched an investigation into Walid’s death. The Ministry of Health stated that “unusual findings [from autopsies] are forwarded to the relevant parties,” but the police unit responsible for investigating prison guards has not taken any action, according to Israeli daily, Haaretz.
The medical rights organization “Physicians for Human Rights” reported last month that scabies is also spreading in other prisons detaining Palestinians, namely Ktzi’ot (Negev), Ganot, and Ayalon.
In a legal petition protesting the drastic reduction of food provisions, the organization cited widespread reports of significant weight loss among detainees, especially those held in Megiddo Prison.
Since the onset of the genocide in Gaza, five Palestinian detainees have died in Megiddo and seven in the Negev Detention Camp.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has documented the deaths of 73 detainees in Israeli custody, including two whose bodies showed clear signs of severe torture. Detainees describe violent treatment by guards as routine.
A recently released minor from Nablus shared that “no one gets enough to eat in prison. Guards would bring in a plate of rice for ten people, barely enough for one, and we all had to share.”
He said this was supposed to be lunch, and other meals were similarly meager. A slice of cheese, he noted, was too small to cover a piece of bread. “I went to sleep hungry every single night,” he said.
Other detainees reported extremely poor food quality in Megiddo, with spoiled vegetables and undercooked rice served in portions of just two to three spoonful per meal.
These measures follow a directive by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who mandated radical changes to prison conditions for Palestinian detainees after the genocide began, including bans on shopping from the prison commissary, the removal of cooking utensils from cells, and reductions of food supplies to the legal minimum.
In response to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Prison Service claimed to have increased food rations and submitted a comparative list of provisions, showing that Palestinian detainees receive half the meat portions given to criminal inmates and are denied fruit and desserts entirely.
Testimonies from two detained minors revealed that as of early this year, they had not received even the meager rations promised by the Prison Service in court. Nearly all detainees reported persistent hunger.
Hundreds have contracted scabies and colitis, leaving some unable to get out of bed, even to use the bathroom.
“Medics come to the ward, peek through the window, and hand out paracetamol. They tell us to eat plain rice and bread,” said one detainee.
By the end of last year, in response to legal challenges, the Prison Service admitted that approximately 2,800 Palestinian detainees had been infected with scabies. Rights groups further noted that many suffered from both illnesses concurrently.
Professor Amos Adler, a clinical microbiologist, wrote in a memorandum to Physicians for Human Rights that the likely causes of the outbreaks include overcrowding, malnutrition, and poor hygiene.
