The Terrifying Trinity: Cold, Infection, and the Unknown in the Cells of 2026

At the beginning of 2026, the Palestinian prisoner in the occupation's prisons faces not only a judicial ruling but also a complex material and legal reality, where harsh climatic conditions, systematic health negligence, and procedural ambiguity intertwine; the cell has ceased to be merely a space for detention, transforming into an environment that produces continuous suffering through parallel pathways starting with the systematic use of cold as a physical pressure tool. In prisons located in desert and mountainous areas, such as "Negev," "Nafha," and "Gilboa," reports from human rights institutions like "Addameer" and the "Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Commission" document a sharp reduction in fabric rations and an absolute ban on the entry of winter blankets, leaving over 11,000 prisoners facing temperatures nearing freezing without any minimum heating provisions. This reality causes not only temporary harm but also results in a complex health impact manifested in increased cases of respiratory infections and chronic joint diseases, turning the climate from a natural phenomenon into a means for the physical liquidation of the prisoner.

In parallel with this thermal depletion, the spread of scabies disease stands out as a glaring example of health negligence that transcends spontaneous shortcomings to become a deliberate policy, as this disease has turned into an epidemic within the sections due to the intentional absence of preventive protocols and a lack of cleaning materials. In prisons like "Megiddo," infection rates have reached record levels approaching 90% in some sections as a result of reduced bathing periods and the overcrowding of prisoners in tight spaces; this mechanism targets not only the body but aims to drain the psychological state of the prisoner and redirect their energy toward the struggle for their daily biological survival. The image of this trinity is completed by what thousands of detainees from the Gaza Strip face, held under the classification of "illegal combatant," a vague legal adaptation that provides a cover for the detention of the prisoner from any judicial or humanitarian oversight, in what is known as "forced disappearance," which is prohibited by customary international law. The presence of over 3,000 detainees in undisclosed centers such as "Sdeh Teyman," deprived of visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross for more than two years, does not only represent a crime against the detainee alone but is a form of collective psychological torture for families living in a void of lethal information.

This grim scene inside the occupation's prisons surpasses the concept of "difficult conditions" to enter the framework of systematic violations of the Third Geneva Convention and the "Nelson Mandela Rules," placing the international system before urgent legal obligations that require transcending the language of general statements towards actual measures that ensure climate protection, health prevention, and the end of enforced disappearance. Dealing with the file of Palestinian prisoners today remains the true measure of the seriousness of commitment to international legal norms; the prisoners do not seek a privilege but demand the transformation of international covenants from ink on paper into a shield that protects their dignity and their fundamental right to life, reminding the world that what occurs behind closed doors is a moral mirror in which all claims of human rights protection collapse if silence continues.