RAMALLAH, August 2, 2026 (WAFA) — The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) said on Sunday that the case of 15-year-old detainee Mohammad Musa Hamid once again exposes the nature of systematic medical crimes committed by the Israeli prison system against Palestinian prisoners, including the use of denial of medical treatment as a tool of “slow killing.”
The PPS said Mohammad Hamid, born on August 13, 2010, from Tuqu’ town southeast of Bethlehem, was detained by Israeli forces on February 25, 2026, and held in the minors’ section of Ofer Prison, where he was subjected, like other child detainees, to harsh detention conditions, including torture, abuse, starvation, and deprivation of medical care. His family has also been denied visits, while the International Committee of the Red Cross has been prevented from visiting prisoners, in continued violation of international humanitarian law.
The organization said Hamid contracted scabies in April 2026, but the prison administration refused to provide him with the necessary treatment, causing his condition to worsen and resulting in severe skin infections. His health deteriorated rapidly in July, when he developed a high fever and was transferred to the so-called prison clinic, where initial examinations revealed an acute urinary tract infection and elevated blood sugar levels.
The PPS added that on July 20, Hamid was transferred to the Israeli Shaare Zedek Medical Center after the so-called Ramle prison clinic refused to receive him due to his scabies infection. However, Israeli authorities returned him to Ofer Prison less than 12 hours later despite the seriousness of his condition, leaving him for four days on antibiotics without any improvement.
As his condition continued to deteriorate, Israeli authorities transferred him again to Shaare Zedek Medical Center on July 25, where medical tests revealed that the infection had spread to several organs, including the heart and brain. On July 27, he underwent heart surgery, while it was later found that he had suffered neurological damage affecting several parts of his body, including his right foot, which may require amputation.
The PPS said that throughout his hospitalization, despite the critical state of his health, Hamid remained shackled and under the guard of prison officers.
It added that on July 30, following intervention by the Israeli organization Physicians for Human Rights, Hamid’s family was allowed to visit him after Israeli authorities decided to release him due to the severity of his condition. However, the child remains unconscious and on a ventilator in the intensive care unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, while doctors await stabilization of his condition to assess the extent of the damage to his body and determine whether amputation of his right foot will be required.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society stressed that Hamid’s case is not an isolated incident, but rather reflects a systematic Israeli policy of depriving Palestinian prisoners of medical care until their conditions reach critical or irreversible stages, followed by the release of some detainees in an attempt to evade legal and criminal responsibility.
The PPS said prisoners’ institutions have documented several cases in which detainees were released only after reaching critical health conditions, describing this as one of the most serious forms of “slow killing.”
M.N
