Disease Spreading Among Naqab Prison Detainees as Medical Neglect Amounts to Slow-Kill Policy
Scabies is spreading through the cells of Naqab Prison. Prisoners with chronic illnesses get nothing but painkillers. Some have lost so much weight since their arrest that the Prisoners’ Media Office, in a February 2026 report, called what is happening a “slow-kill policy.”
The office documented a pattern of deliberate medical neglect across the prison. Contagious skin diseases move fast through overcrowded cells where cleaning supplies have all but run out. Prisoners suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, nerve disorders, high blood pressure, and severe dental pain, none of it properly treated. Fungal and bacterial infections are reported throughout the sections.
Prison doctors hand out basic painkillers without diagnosis. Referrals to specialist clinics do not happen. Complaints go ignored for weeks, and diseases that could be managed with routine care are instead left to worsen.
The physical toll is visible. Prisoners have lost significant weight from poor nutrition alone. Hot water is unreliable, outdoor exercise periods have been cut, and what little sunlight or movement prisoners once had is gone. Skin and respiratory diseases spread faster under these conditions.
During Ramadan, the prison administration shifted the schedule for suhoor and iftar without increasing portions or improving quality. Suhoor arrives around 4:00 a.m., iftar roughly an hour before the sunset call to prayer. For prisoners already weakened by untreated illness, the meals fall far short.
The Prisoners’ Media Office called on human rights and humanitarian organizations to intervene, pressure the Israeli occupation to end its policy of medical neglect at Naqab, and ensure prisoners receive proper treatment before the situation costs lives.
