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Palestine

Deep-built

ISO: PSE Region: Middle East & North Africa

99.9% circumcision prevalence

Prevalence of non-therapeutic male circumcision.

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Research coverage

A transparent snapshot of what this file currently contains.

PrevalenceComplete

Categorical profileComplete

Circumcision by intentComplete

Deep write-upsComplete

Native perspectiveAvailable

Sources · Citations

Verifications · Independent

Structured claims · Evidence-based

Jul 9, 2026

Last updated · deep-built

Research note: Palestine DEEP_BUILT 2026-06-29. Morris 2016 assumption-derived (99.9%; not surveyed; ~98% Muslim; no DHS/MICS). Key honest gaps: (1) no direct prevalence survey exists; (2) legal fragmentation — no single authority across PA West Bank / Hamas Gaza / Israeli Area C; (3) post-Oct 2023 Gaza healthcare collapse disrupts data. Sources #1013-1020. Refusals: WorldPopulationReview 99.9% (0-3) and Sydney Uni Press "West Bank 99%" (0-3) — both secondary. 0 verified incidents. NOT VMMC priority. FGM strictly separate.

Research claims

Short, testable claims backed by evidence and categorised for clarity.

No structured research claims have been added for Palestine yet.

Legal status

Unregulated

Palestine has no single unified legal framework governing male circumcision. The jurisdiction is fragmented: the Palestinian Authority (PA) governs parts of the West Bank under a hybrid of Jordanian law and PA legislation; Hamas governs Gaza under a different administrative framework; Area C (West Bank) remains under Israeli military jurisdiction. No PA law, Hamas decree, or Israeli military order specifically governing non-therapeutic male circumcision was identified. The practice is near-universal among Palestinian Muslims and is unregulated in the absence-of-prohibition sense. Female genital mutilation is a separate matter and must not be conflated with male circumcision.

Medical & HIV context

0.1%

Adult HIV prevalence

UNAIDS (2023) · Adults 15–49

Circumcision in newborns

Non-therapeutic (cultural practice)

childhood

Typical age

Benchmarks are international context — not a local complication rate.

Incident registry

No verified incidents are currently recorded for Palestine.

This absence should not be read as proof that harm does not occur — only that no verified, sourced case has been documented in this database yet.

Country write-ups

Palestine: Near-Universal Khitan Across a Fragmented Jurisdiction

No single legal framework governs Palestinian territories; circumcision is a near-universal and culturally celebrated practice with no survey measurement and no prohibition

May 1, 2023