RAMALLAH, August 17, 2026 (WAFA) — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates sent urgent identical letters to relevant international bodies, including the World Health Organization, the Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and UN special procedures, regarding the continued grave and systematic violations committed by the Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian detainees, particularly the deliberate denial of medical care, which has caused a serious deterioration in their health and placed their lives at risk.
The communications addressed the continuous, severe, and systematic violations by Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian detainees, specifically highlighting the deliberate withholding of medical treatment and subsequent life-threatening health deterioration.
The ministry specifically highlighted the case of 15-year-old detainee Mohammad Mousa Hamid, whose life was threatened by severe health deterioration due to systemic violations and medical neglect. It emphasized that his situation is not an isolated incident, but rather a reflection of a broader, systematic policy used by Israeli occupation authorities against all Palestinian detainees, including children.
The ministry explained that this systematic policy includes the denial of necessary medication and treatment, delays in medical examinations and consultations, and obstruction of patients’ transfer to hospitals. It also includes the denial of specialized treatment and rehabilitation, as well as deliberate neglect in providing basic hygiene and health conditions.
The ministry said that thousands of Palestinian detainees face harsh and inhumane detention conditions, including severe overcrowding, malnutrition, shortages of drinking water, deprivation of hygiene supplies, appropriate clothing and bedding, prolonged isolation, and being shackled and subjected to assaults while being transferred to clinics and hospitals, in addition to being denied family visits and the absence of independent monitoring.
The ministry affirmed that these conditions, combined with medical neglect, have severely worsened the health of many detainees, including children, the elderly, the chronically ill, and the wounded. In some instances, this neglect has led to organ failure, permanent disabilities, amputations, and deaths inside detention centers, it said.
The ministry stressed that what child Hamid was subjected to, as well as the conditions faced by thousands of Palestinian detainees, constitutes a flagrant violation of the occupation authorities’ obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including ensuring the rights to life and health and physical and psychological integrity, as well as the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
It added that, given their systematic and widespread nature, these practices may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the crime of persecution, under international criminal law, requiring investigations, accountability, and the prosecution of those responsible.
The ministry warned that the continuation of these practices in the absence of international accountability encourages the occupation authorities to persist in their violations against Palestinian detainees and reflects a deliberate policy aimed at stripping them of their fundamental rights and placing their lives and safety at risk.
It affirmed that the killing of detainees inside occupation prisons and the serious deterioration in the conditions of thousands of sick and wounded detainees require immediate, independent, and comprehensive investigations to establish the facts, identify those responsible for these violations, and ensure accountability.
The ministry called on the international community, particularly the United Nations and its specialized mechanisms, to assume its legal and moral responsibilities and exert genuine and effective pressure on the occupation authorities to halt policies of medical neglect, torture, ill-treatment, and arbitrary detention; ensure the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained detainees, particularly children, women, and sick detainees; and ensure that all detainees receive the necessary medical care without delay.
It also called for independent and impartial investigations into all cases in which Palestinian detainees were killed inside prisons and detention centers, as well as into the circumstances of their detention and treatment, and for ensuring the recovery of their withheld bodies and holding those responsible for these crimes accountable.
The ministry stressed the necessity for the United Nations and its specialized mechanisms to continue monitoring and regularly reporting on the conditions of Palestinian detainees. It further called for the implementation of necessary measures to ensure that perpetrators of these violations do not escape punishment.
T.R.
