Palestinian from the West Bank died in Israeli prisons in the first detainee under the age of 18: Officials
Officials said a teenager from the West Bank was held in an Israeli prison for six months but was not accused of dying after a collapse without knowing it, becoming the first Palestinian to die in Israeli custody.
Walid Ahmad, 17, a healthy high school student, was arrested on suspicion of throwing stones at soldiers before being arrested in September. Rights groups have documented widespread abuse in Israeli detention centers, with thousands of Palestinians being rounded up after an October 7, 2023 attack led by Islamic Hamas, which sparked war in the Gaza Strip.
Prison authorities denied any systematic abuse and said they investigated allegations of wrongdoing by prison staff. However, the Israeli Ministry of Supervising the Prison admits that under Israeli law, conditions within the detention centers have been reduced to a minimum.
Israel’s prison services did not respond to questions about the cause of death. It said only one 17-year-old from the West Bank died in Megiddo prison, which had been previously accused of abuse of Palestinian prisoners, “his medical condition is kept confidential.” It said it investigated all deaths in detention.
Walid’s father, Khalid Ahmad, said his son was a lively teenager who was taken away from his home in the occupied West Bank in a pre-dawn arrest attack and he loved playing football.
Six months later, Palestinian officials said Walid collapsed in the prison yard on March 23 and hit him in the head and died shortly after several brief appearances (date of trial dates were not set during this period).
The family believes Walid has been infected with Amin pregnancy from a harsh condition in the prison, an infection that can cause diarrhea, vomiting and dizziness, which can be fatal if left untreated.
Western-backed Palestinian authorities say Wallid is the first Palestinian under the age of 18 to die in Israeli detention and the 63rd Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza since the beginning of the war.
Palestinian prisoner rights groups say that about one in five of 300 Palestinians have died in Israeli detention since the Middle East War in 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Palestinians want all three territories to reach their future state.
Palestinian authorities say Israel has the bodies of 72 Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli prisons, including 61 since the beginning of the war.
Former detainees told the Associated Press that the situation in Israeli prisons has deteriorated since. They described as beatings, severe overcrowding, inadequate health care, sc body outbreaks and poor hygiene conditions.
Israel’s Ministry of National Security oversees prison services and is run by Itama Ben-Gvir, the supranational cabinet minister, who boasts of reducing the conditions for Palestinian detainees to the minimum required by law. It said the policy was designed to stop attacks.
My father recalled: “Don’t worry about me.”
Israel has summoned thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, saying they suspect they are armed. Many people hold without charges or trials for so-called administrative detention, which Israel considers necessary security measures. Others were arrested for alleged aggression of soldiers, but their trials were delayed as the military and Israeli security agencies gathered evidence.
His father said Walid had encountered at least four court appearances during a video conference. Wallid’s father said each meeting lasted about three minutes and another hearing was scheduled for April 21.
Dr. Khaled Al Serr, who spent more than six months in Israeli prison on September 29, was released on September 29. The 32-year-old surgeon, who works at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, said he was questioned, humiliated and beaten until he was suddenly released last week without any charges.
After four months of detention at a meeting in February, his father noticed that his son appeared to be in poor health.
“His body was weakened due to malnutrition in the prison,” Ahmed said. He said, Walid told him that he had already gotten the sores – which was an infectious rash caused by mites that caused a strong itching – but it had been cured.
“Don’t worry about me,” his father recalled.
Khalid Ahmad visits his son’s friend, a former football teammate, and after four days in the same prison, the family received news of Walid’s death.
“We feel the same as all the parents of the prisoners and the families and mothers of all the prisoners,” Khalid Ahmad said. “We can only say, ‘Indeed, we belong to Allah, and it is indeed his return.'”
“The most severe prison for minors”
Firas al-Jabrini, Walid’s attorney, said Israeli authorities denied his request to visit his client’s prison. But he said three inmates detained along with Walid told him he had dysentery, saying it was common among young Palestinians held in the facility.
He said they suspected the disease spreading with dirty water, as well as cheese and yogurt, brought by prison guards in the morning and sat all day during the Muslim holy month of detainees fast for Ramadan.
Megiddo in northern Israel is the most severe prison for minors,” Al-Jabrini said. He said he was told that rooms designed for six inmates often accommodate 16 people, some of which sleep on the floor. Many complain about sores and eczema.
Walid collapsed and hit the head with a metal rod, losing consciousness, said Thaer Shriteh, spokesman for the detention committee of Palestinian authorities. “The prison government did not respond to the inmate’s urgent care demands to save lives,” he said, citing witnesses who spoke to the committee.
Lawyers and Palestinian officials say an autopsy is needed to determine the cause of death. Israel agreed to implement one, but no date has been set.
