Cnn
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A 17 -year -old Palestinian boy died following a “probably prolonged malnutrition” in an Israeli prison, according to an autopsy produced by an Israeli pathologist.
The teenager, Walid Khalid Ahmad, is the first minor to have died in the Israeli guard since the conflict between Hamas and Israel began in October 2023, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS).
He died in the prison of Israel Megiddo on March 22, according to his family and a joint declaration of the PPs and the Palestinian Commission for the Affairs of the detainees.
Ahmad was arrested on September 30 of last year at his house in Silwad, a Palestinian city northeast of Ramallah in occupied West Bank. His father Khalid said he was detained on the basis of alleged offenses between 2020 and 2023 which included launch stones and Molotov cocktails.
Walid and his family deny the charges against him. The PPs told CNN that the teenager had not been charged and that the court hearings had been delayed several times.
Five days after Ahmad’s death, his body was examined at ABU Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, according to a copy of the autopsy report that his family shared with CNN.
The autopsy report has described signs of serious weight and muscle loss, including loss of muscle mass to temples, an appearance pressed to the abdomen and “almost absent muscle mass or subcutaneous fat on the trunk and extremities”.
“Autopsy’s results suggest that Walid has suffered from extreme malnutrition and probably prolonged as its state was observing its deeply chatter and inadequate food consumption complaints since December 2024,” he said. “It should be noted that malnutrition increases the risk of infectious complications, including serious septicemia,” he added.
CNN did not receive an immediate response from the Israel security service or the Israeli defense forces on the reasons why the adolescent was arrested last September and if he had been officially charged. The Ministry of Justice has returned requests for information to the penitentiary service.
The PPs told CNN that Humad was not only the first minor to die in the Israeli guard since October 2023, but also since 1967. CNN cannot verify the assertion.
At least 63 Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank have died so far in Israeli detention since the start of the last conflict, said the PPS, including at least 40 Gaza.
The Israeli penitentiary service told CNN that “after receiving the initial report on the detainee’s state, a medical team was called to the scene and responded as required.”
“As in any case the death of a prisoner, an investigation team was appointed to examine the incident. At the end of the investigation, his conclusions will be sent to the authorized authorities,” he said.
Khalid, Ahmad’s father, told CNN that on September 30 of last year, Israeli forces “stormed the house” around 3:30 am and arrested his son.
The family was authorized to attend several court hearings in the case, which was held at a distance by video speakers, he said.
Israeli authorities continue to hold Ahmad’s body, Khalid told CNN.
The family was informed of his death on March 24, two days after his death, said Khalid, adding days later, he received a telephone call from the medical team that led the autopsy, who told him “the painful truth” behind the death of his son.
Passionate athlete, Ahmad suffered from any known illness before his detention, said his father, stressing his treatment in detention as the cause of the death of his son.
“Walid was a young man with great values,” said Khalid. “What happened was unexpected.”
The prisoner’s business commission and the PPS said that Walid’s death was “proof of the horrible level of abuse faced with prisoners in Israeli occupation, including hundreds of children.”
Israel has intensified arrests in the West Bank occupied since the start of the last war, said PPS, with some 15,700 arrests hitherto recorded by its count.