Palestinian child died of famine under Israeli detention, the autopsy finds

The first Palestinian child to die under Israeli detention was hungry, says an autopsy.

Walid Khalid Abdullah Ahmad, 17, died at the end of March from what was probably signs of “famine, dehydration of diarrhea induced by colitis, and infectious complications all aggravated by prolonged malnutrition and a denial of the medical intervention that lives life”, brought children to the defense of children – Palestine

The post mortem exam suggests that Humad suffers from extreme body muscles and waste of fat, as shown in a flowed abdomen, a doctor who attended the autopsy on behalf of Ahmad’s family said.

“We were informed of his death through the Palestinian Liaison Bureau on March 24. We were surprised and shocked by the news because he had not suffered from any disease. A court hearing was scheduled for mid-April,” said Ahmad’s father Khaled Al-Basha, Middle East Eye.

The Palestinian authority says he is the first child to die under Israeli detention, and the 63rd Palestinian to die in Israeli prisons since the start of the war against Gaza in October 2023.

While Israel has long been criticized for its brutal treatment of Palestinian prisoners, the conditions have worsened considerably during the Gaza War.

Detainees have often described being subjected to blows, torture, sexual violence, overcrowding, lack of medical care, disease epidemics and mediocre health conditions.

While the penitentiary authorities deny any systemic abuse, the Israeli Ministry of National Security, which oversees prisons and was recently led by the Jewish supremacist from the far right Itamar Ben Gvir, has often boasted of reducing the conditions of Palestinian prisoners “at least required by law”.

Ahmad was detained without charge in Megiddo prison, an establishment which has already been accused of having abused Palestinians.

He had rashes on both legs and his groin, as well as abrasions on the nose, chest and right hip.

The autopsy also shows important air collections in the chest and abdominal cavities of Ahmad, which, according to DPIP, was “probably caused by a blunt trauma”, as well as signs of inflammation which could be linked to an infection.

Beings in the hands of the Israeli guards could be the cause of the presence of edema and congestion in its large intestine, which are compatible with traumatic injuries.

The examination, carried out at ABU Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, revealed that Hmad suffered from “extremely prolonged malnutrition” and that it may have suffered from a fiery colon, causing frequent diarrhea and dehydration. A cut was also found on his neck.

An athlete

Ahmad was in his last year of school and had been healthy.

He was athletic, playing professionally for his hometown football team and hosting ambitions to play for the Palestinian national team, but the Israeli barriers prevented him from doing so.

Al-Basha told me that the Israeli army had made a descent into the city of Silwad, east of Ramallah on September 30, destroying its content and breaking its windows. They then searched their identity cards and informed Ahmad that he was in a state of arrest.

The soldiers handcuffed her and have their eyes blindfolded in front of his family and prevented him from dressing, despite calls from his family. They took him and his family heard nothing from him to his first trial on October 8. At this point, they could only see it via the video screen.

In a statement, an Israeli penitentiary service said that an investigation was underway.

“A 17-year-old security detainee from Megiddo prison, the West Bank region, died yesterday in the prison, his state of health being under privacy protection,” he said. “An investigation is still underway.”

More than 14,000 Palestinians were reportedly arrested in the West Bank occupied by Israeli forces since the start of the war against Gaza.

Most are held in administrative detention, which allows the preventive arrest of people on the basis of unveiled evidence.