‏🚨Palestinian Prisoner’s Society: Israeli occupation’s prison system commits medical crimes against Palestinian child detainee, then releases him to evade responsibility

🚨15y/o Child Remains Unconscious in Hospital, in Critical Condition

Israeli Occupation Authorities Fully Responsible For His Fate

August 2, 2026 

Ramallah, occupied Palestine - The case of 15-year-old Palestinian child detainee Mohammed Mousa Mohammed Suleiman Humaid exposes the systematic medical crimes and abuses committed by the occupation’s prison system against Palestinian political prisoners, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement on Sunday.

The Israeli occupation is using the crime of denial of medical care to prisoners, at unprecedented and mass levels in what has become a policy and tool to kill as many Palestinians behind bars as possible. 

The PPS explained that Mohammed, who was born on August 13, 2010, and is from the town of Tuqu', southeast of Bethlehem, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on February 25, 2026. He was held in the juvenile section of Ofer Prison, where he endured harsh detention conditions similar to those faced by other child prisoners, including torture, abuse, starvation, denial of medical treatment, continued deprivation of family visits, and the prevention of the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting detainees, in is an ongoing violation of international humanitarian law.

Mohammed contracted scabies in April 2026, but prison authorities refused to provide the necessary treatment. As a result, his condition worsened, leading to severe skin infections. His health deteriorated rapidly during July, when he developed a high fever and was transferred to the prison clinic. Initial examinations showed that he had a severe urinary tract infection, in addition to elevated blood sugar levels.

The PPS added that on July 20, 2026, Mohammed was transferred to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in occupied Jerusalem after the Ramla Prison Clinic reportedly refused to admit him because he had scabies. Occupation authorities returned him to Ofer Prison less than twelve hours later despite the seriousness of his condition, where he remained for four days receiving antibiotics without any improvement.

As his condition continued to deteriorate, occupation authorities transferred him back to Shaare Zedek Medical Center on July 25, 2026. Medical examinations found that the infection had spread to several organs, including his heart and brain. On July 27, he underwent heart surgery without his parents present. It later became apparent that he had suffered neurological damage affecting several parts of his body, including his right foot, which may require amputation.

The PPS stated that on July 30, 2026, following the intervention of Physicians for Human Rights, Mohammed's family was allowed to visit him after occupation authorities decided to release him because his condition had become extremely critical. 

As of today, he remains unconscious in the intensive care unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. His condition remains critical, and doctors are waiting for him to stabilize before assessing the extent of the damage to his body and determining whether his right foot will need to be amputated.

The PPS asserted that the circumstances surrounding Mohammed Humaid’s case are not an isolated incident but rather reflect a systematic Israeli policy of denying prisoners healthcare until they reach critical or irreversible stages, then releasing some of them in an attempt to evade legal and criminal responsibility for the abuses committed against them. It stated that Palestinian prisoner advocacy organizations have documented several recent cases in which detainees were released only after reaching life-threatening medical conditions, which is one of the most dangerous forms of killing.

It added that Mohammed's case recalls that of the late child detainee Walid Ahmad, who was martyred in Megiddo Prison in March of last year after being denied medical treatment while suffering from scabies, alongside starvation policies and harsh detention conditions. His killing was one of the cases illustrating the dangerous transformations in the Israeli occupations prison system since the beginning of the genocide.

The PPS further warned that the continued spread of scabies poses one of the gravest threats to thousands of prisoners infected with the disease. Prison authorities have continued to implement only superficial measures that fail to address the causes of the outbreak while deliberately maintaining the conditions that facilitate its spread, thereby turning the disease into a means of torture and slow killing.

The PPS emphasized that UN and human rights reports documenting abuses against prisoners have not deterred Israeli occupation authorities from continuing these policies. Israeli occupation prisons have become an organized environment for torture, humiliation, and slow killing, and they now constitute a complementary aspect of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Occupation authorities currently hold approximately 350 Palestinian children in Megiddo and Ofer prisons. This figure changes daily due to ongoing arrest campaigns targeting Palestinians, including children.

The PPS concluded by stating that the situation of Palestinian prisoners has changed dramatically since the beginning of the genocide. The number of prisoners has doubled while a systematic regime of abuse has been imposed, including starvation, deprivation of water, and denial of the most basic rights, foremost among them access to medical care, with the aim of causing further deaths. 

More than 100 Palestinian political prisoners and detainees have been killed in Israeli custody since the beginning of the genocide, with the identities of 90 of them having been publicly announced. Current figures indicate that Israel is holding approximately 9,400 Palestinian political prisoners in its prisons.