AhlulBayt News Agency: A Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy group says Israeli prison authorities have fired rubber-coated metal bullets at a Palestinian detainee being held at Ofer incarceration facility in the occupied West Bank, as he is suffering from severe health complications after contracting scabies in detention.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement on Monday that the health condition of imprisoned lawyer Azmi Nader Abu Hleil has deteriorated critically after he caught the skin disease last April. He has not received the necessary medical treatment for more than six months.
The rights group added that abscesses have spread across the body of Abu Hleil, who has been held behind bars since December 2024, and cracks and sores on his skin are fairly visible.
The PPS noted that Israeli prison officials violently assaulted the Palestinian detainee last September after he repeatedly demanded medical treatment. Israeli forces fired rubber-coated metal bullets at him, further aggravating his already fragile health condition.
According to the statement, 32-year-old Abu Hleil currently suffers from severe itching, painful ulcers, and sleep deprivation, while continuing to be denied medical care.
He has also experienced a sharp loss of weight, dropping to 49 kilograms, as a result of a systematic starvation policy imposed against him.
The PPS highlighted that Abu Hleil is one among thousands of detainees who have contracted scabies inside Israeli prisons, where the disease has become a form of torture due to the deliberate neglect imposed by the Israel Prison Service.
The prisoners’ affairs group said detainees in Israeli prisons are facing an escalating health catastrophe, along with ongoing repression and daily violations, as part of a systematic policy aimed at torturing and gradually killing Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
It stated that Israeli occupation authorities do not conceal their criminal intentions, as openly expressed by extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir through his repeated calls to enact legislation allowing the execution of detainees and to shoot them in the head instead of arresting them.
The circumstances surrounding the detention of Palestinian inmates by Israel are unacceptable, and characterized by inadequate hygiene standards. Moreover, Palestinian detainees have endured persistent torture, harassment, and oppression.
Palestinian detainees have consistently participated in indefinite hunger strikes to express their frustration over their unjust imprisonment.
Human rights organizations say that Israel continues to violate the rights and freedoms granted to abductees as stipulated by the Fourth Geneva Convention and international laws.
According to the Palestine Detainees Studies Center, around 60 percent of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons suffer from chronic illnesses, with many having passed away either during their incarceration or after their release due to the seriousness of their health issues.
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