Less than 20% of Palestinian prisoners freed under Trump peace plan, as released detainees suffer with scabies

While the Israel-Gaza ceasefire has garnered acclaim across the world, the number of Palestinian detainees being released according to the terms of the deal is markedly low.

While celebrations erupted in Israel due to Hamas releasing the final living Israeli captives it held, Palestinians have been riddled with anxiety and scepticism amid the release of a limited number of prisoners.

Less than one in five Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel are to be released under the agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump.

The truce deal states that Israel must free around 2,000 Palestinian detainees, including 250 convicted prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 people who have been held without charge since October 2023.

This amounts to only 17.7 percent of the Palestinians held by Israel, many of whom are imprisoned without charge or trial in horrific conditions. 

Israeli forces also issued threats to the families of the detainees prior to their release, ordering them to not show any signs of celebration, not raise any flags or take part in media interviews.

Some of those freed have been deported or exiled, with experts highlighting the juxtaposition between the treatment of freed Israeli captives and Palestinian detainees.

Detainees infected with scabies

The Arabi 21 news website reported that freed Palestinian detainees have been unable to even hug or  embrace their families because they were infected with scabies which they contracted in Israeli prisons.

In Gaza, many of the detainees who were released had to immediately be transferred for medical examination.

In the occupied West Bank, detainees avoided even shaking hands with their loved ones out of fear they could transmit any diseases. Some were seen wearing gloves.

Scabies, which is highly contagious, is a skin infection which causes severe itching, irritation and rashes that can develop into blisters or areas of swelling.

Rights groups, who have documented the dire conditions in Israeli jails, state that the spread of scabies is as a result of the Israeli Prison Service’s neglect.

Palestinians accuse Israeli authorities of taking "revenge" on prisoners by abusing and neglecting them in various ways.

Since the start of the war on Gaza, Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians, who are often kept in overcrowded cells with limited access to basic supplies, such as soap, shaving products, toothpaste, and clean towels.

Palestinians shared images of the areas of infection on the bodies of the detainees once they were freed, decrying their treatment.

Israeli prison authorities would also reportedly move infected prisoners into cells with others, with the aim of infecting everyone there as a form of collective punishment, Arabi 21 reported.

International organisations and lawyers have long been prevented from visiting detainees in Israeli cells, despite reports of poor conditions and individuals being deprived of their basic rights, including showering or seeing daylight.