The family of Mohamed Ibrahim, a Palestinian-American boy who has been held in Israeli custody since February, is demanding an independent doctor assess the boy’s condition following alarming reports about his conditions in prison.
Zeyad Kadr, Mohammed’s uncle, said that U.S. Embassy officials in Israel visited the 16-year-old in Ofer prison last week.
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Officials later told the family that Ibrahim had lost weight and had dark circles around his eyes, Kadour told Al Jazeera.
The consulate official also said he had raised Mr. Muhammad’s case with multiple U.S. and Israeli government agencies.
“This is the first time in nine months that they have expressed serious concerns about his health, but how bad is it?” Kadru asked in an interview Wednesday.
Israel has refused to release Mr. Mohammed despite calls from human rights groups and U.S. lawmakers for his release, and his family said President Donald Trump’s administration was not doing enough to bring him home.
Israeli authorities have accused Ibrahim of throwing stones at settlers in the occupied West Bank, a charge he denies.
But Mohammed’s family says the legal process in the case is moving at a snail’s pace in Israel’s military justice system.
Rights activists also argue that the military court system in the occupied West Bank is part of Israel’s discriminatory apartheid regime, given the nearly 100 percent conviction rate for Palestinian defendants.
Adding to the Ibrahim family’s worries, Mohammed is unable to visit the boy while he is in an Israeli prison. His relatives are unable to visit or contact him and can only receive updates from the U.S. Embassy.
His father, Zahel Ibrahim, told Al Jazeera earlier this year that the boy suffered from severe weight loss while in custody. He also contracted scabies, a contagious skin infection.
The last time he received a visit from U.S. embassy officials was in September.
Israeli authorities have committed well-documented abuses, including torture and sexual violence, against Palestinian detainees, particularly after Israel launched a genocidal war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
“We see and hear people coming out of prison and we know it’s bad,” Kadru said.
“Mohamed is an American child who was taken away at the age of 15. He is now 16 years old and has been sitting there for nine months and has not seen his mother or father.”
He added that his family was also concerned about Muhammad’s mental health.
Mohammed’s uncle told Al Jazeera: “We want to send him to the hospital and have him evaluated by a third party, not by the prison medics or nurses. He needs real treatment.”
Mohammed, from Florida, was arrested in the middle of the night while visiting Palestine, blindfolded and beaten in what Qadr described as a “kidnapping.”
The U.S. State Department did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Mohammed’s recent consular visit.
During a visit to Israel last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio apparently misheard a question about Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti and thought it was about Muhammad’s case.
“Are you talking about something coming from the United States? There’s no news about that today,” Rubio told reporters.
“Of course, we will address this issue through diplomatic channels with our embassy in Japan, but we have nothing to announce on that.”
But for Mr. Qadr, Mr. Mohammed’s case is not a bureaucratic or legal issue, but one that requires political will from Washington to secure his freedom.
Qadr stressed that the United States is negotiating with adversaries such as Venezuela, Russia and North Korea to release detained Americans so that its closest ally in the Middle East can facilitate the release of Mohammed.
The United States has provided more than $21 billion in military aid to Israel in the past two years.
Kadr contrasted the lack of U.S. efforts to free Muhammad with calls for the release of Yidan Alexander, a U.S. national who volunteered with the Israeli army and was captured during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Alexander was released in May following pressure from the Trump administration against Hamas.
“The U.S. government negotiated with what is considered a terrorist organization and secured his release as an adult who wore a uniform, picked up a gun, and acted as he registered,” Kadour said of Alexander.
“Why would a 16-year-old boy be left to rot and languish in prison for nine months? This is an example of how Muhammad, and his name and Palestinian DNA, are not considered American enough, first by the State Department and second by the administration.”
