RAMALLAH, December 17, 2025 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation authorities on Wednesday closed an investigation into the death of a Palestinian teenager in Israel's notorious Megiddo Prison, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs and the Palestine Prisoner’s Society.
They said that an Israeli occupation courted decided to close an investigation into the case of Walid Khalid Abdullah Ahmad, 17, died at the end of March in Israeli detention due to starvation.
They added that the occupation authorities alleged that no direct crime was committed in the case of Walid, despite the fact that autopsy and testimonies indicated that he died from signs of starvation and health deterioration.
They elaborated that the occupation court’s ruling was based on the occupation authorities’ allegation that Walid died due to prolonged health deterioration, without a total disregard to the starvation and deliberate denial of medical treatment as two major causes of the death.
Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) reported back in early April that Walid “likely died from a combination of starvation, dehydration from colitis-induced diarrhea, and infectious complications all compounded by prolonged malnutrition and denial of life saving medical intervention.”
“Post-mortem examination indicates Walid suffered from extreme body muscle and fat wasting, evidenced by a sunken abdomen, according to a doctor who attended the autopsy on behalf of Walid’s family. Walid also had scabies rashes on both legs and his groin, in addition to abrasions on his nose, chest, and right hip. The examination revealed that Walid had significant air collections in both his chest and abdominal cavities likely caused by blunt trauma, along with signs of inflammation likely caused by infection. There was also evidence of edema and congestion in his large intestine, consistent with traumatic injury—likely the result of beatings, which are frequently inflicted by Israeli prison guards on Palestinian child detainees,” DCIP added.
“Walid’s autopsy indicates that Israeli prison guards systematically starved and abused him for months until he finally collapsed, struck his head, and died,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Starvation is a tool of genocide, seeking to weaken and ultimately destroy both the body and spirit of Palestinian child detainees held in Israeli prisons. Walid’s death was not an accident—it is a crime and the international community must immediately intervene to apply sanctions against the Israeli government to force accountability.”
The Commission and the Palestine Prisoner’s Society affirmed that Walid’s case serves as a striking example of the Israeli occupation’s deliberate policy of killing detainees and subjecting them to slow death inside detention facilities in line with the Israeli Knesset’s draft bill imposing the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners.
They added that the period since October 2023 has seen an "unprecedented" rise in the "systematic crimes practised in [Israeli] prisons," making it the "bloodiest in the history of the prisoner movement since 1967".
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