RAMALLAH, August 21, 2026 (WAFA) — The Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) reported that 16-year-old Muhammad Hamid, from the town of Tuqu' in the Bethlehem Governorate, remains hospitalized at Israel’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he is undergoing another heart surgery.
The PPS added in a statement that the procedures follow a series of medical treatments Hamid has received since being transferred from Ofer Prison to the hospital, prior to his eventual release by the Israeli authorities. One of these procedures resulted in the amputation of one of his legs on his birthday, August 13th.
It affirmed that Hamid, who was detained in February 2016, contracted scabies while in Ofer Prison. His health deteriorated rapidly after about four months, necessitating his hospitalization.
The hospital revealed that the child, Hamid, was suffering from severe infections affecting several of his vital organs, exacerbated by the lack of necessary medical care during his detention.
The PPS confirmed that Muhammad remains in critical condition and requires intensive treatment and monitoring. His family continues to face the consequences of his illness, which he contracted while in detention. They have been pressured by the hospital to pay for his treatment, despite the fact that the responsibility lies with the Ofer prison administration, which denied him necessary care and treatment, resulting in gross medical negligence that led to his current critical condition.
The PPS emphasized that the circumstances surrounding Muhammad Hamid's case exemplify a systematic policy of denying detainees necessary healthcare and treatment, allowing their health to deteriorate to critical or irreversible stages, and then releasing some of them after they reach these stages, in an attempt to evade responsibility for the crimes committed against them.
Prisoner support organizations have documented several cases in recent times where detainees were released after reaching critically ill health stages, reflecting one of the most dangerous forms of the slow-killing policy practiced by the prison system against detainees.
The PPS pointed out that the continued spread of scabies poses one of the most serious threats currently facing those infected, as the prison administration continues to take superficial measures that do not address the actual causes of the infection. This is compounded by the maintenance of the conditions that contributed to the outbreak, including overcrowding, lack of ventilation, shortages of cleaning supplies, and the absence of hygiene and healthcare.
It said the continued spread of scabies under such conditions amounts to medical neglect and a form of torture, posing a serious threat to the lives and health of detainees.
Y.S
