Since the start of the genocide in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Israelis have killed nearly a hundred Palestinians in their barbaric rape and torture dungeons, where inhumane abuses have been widely documented by multiple human rights organisations. One of the victims of Israeli crimes in their dungeons was just 17 years old, making him the youngest fatality in an Israeli detention facility so far. Within six months of his abduction in September 2024, the Israelis killed the athlete, who also held a Brazilian passport, on March 22, 2025.
Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad, an accomplished youth football player who played for Al-Asour Academy in Silwad in the West Bank and won multiple awards, was abducted from his home by the Israeli occupation forces in the early morning hours on September 30, 2024.
As is their entrenched practice, the Israelis trashed Walid’s family home in Silwad during his abduction. “After searching the house and damaging its contents, they arrested Walid despite his father presenting his Brazilian passport, which initially halted the abuse,” West Bank-based Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq reported. “Walid was taken to an abandoned building in the village before being transferred to Huwwara camp, and then, 48 hours later, removed from the occupied West Bank to Megiddo Prison in Israel.”
The abuse of the teenager began soon after his abduction and resulted in a serious deterioration in his health. “Walid was subjected to Israeli military court proceedings,” the reported added. “During court hearings, his health visibly deteriorated: in the second session, he appeared weak due to malnutrition, and in the third session, he showed clear signs of illness.”
Epidemics in the dungeons
Reports of a skin epidemic in Israeli dungeons, particularly in Megiddo, where Walid was incarcerated, have surged since the start of the Israeli genocide, which coincided with an intensification of abuse of Palestinians in captivity.
The detainees, whose freedom was won by the resistance in exchange deals with the Israelis, reported severe skin infections. Unable to stand due to starvation, exhaustion, and severe beatings, many of them had to be rushed to hospitals soon after their release.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Jewish supremacist in charge of Israeli prison facilities, has repeatedly boasted about administering inhumane treatment to Palestinians. He has frequently posted videos depicting abusive treatment of Palestinians by prison officials, much to the delight of his constituents, who revel in such spectacles of gratuitous cruelty.
Walid suffered from the same Israeli policy of vicious sadism.
“During a court session on 10 February 2025, according to his father, Walid showed severe symptoms and reported suffering from scabies and an amoeba, requesting medical treatment,” the Al-Haq report revealed.
Numerous reports have documented that Israeli doctors have joined security officials in administering torture to Palestinians. Furthermore, the Israelis have drastically curtailed visits from family members, lawyers, and even Red Cross officials to detainees in their captivity. As a result, Walid’s family could not even visit him as his health deteriorated after his abduction: “Some released prisoners confirmed that his condition had been stable before his death, but his family was unable to visit him due to a ban on visits imposed by the occupation authorities.”
Killed in detention
On March 23, 2025, Walid’s family was informed of his death. A budding footballer of just 17 was killed by the Israelis within six months of his abduction. According to Al-Haq, “Deliberate starvation was identified as the central cause that cumulatively led to severe symptoms and his death.”
Despite Walid being examined in December 2024 and February 2025 due to scabies, and later re-examined after complaining of insufficient food intake, on 22 March 2025, he lost consciousness. Only then was he transferred to the prison clinic, where resuscitation attempts failed, and he was declared dead.
The examinations revealed air emphysema and dense air accumulations extending to the heart membrane, neck, chest wall, abdomen, and intestines, along with severe wasting, a sunken abdomen, and complete loss of muscle mass and subcutaneous fat in the upper body and limbs. There were also multiple skin rashes caused by scabies, particularly on the lower limbs. The autopsy confirmed that starvation — including dehydration from insufficient water intake and fluid loss from diarrhoea caused by colitis — along with inflammation in the mediastinal tissues due to emphysema, collectively led to his death.
Just like that, the Israelis sadistically snuffed out another Palestinian life.
The Israeli organisation Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI), in a report published last November, also revealed that Walid died due to “severe and prolonged malnutrition.”
The physician representing Ahmad’s family reported that several possible causes of death were identified, including starvation as the primary one (either directly or indirectly). The post-mortem findings indicated that Walid suffered from severe and prolonged malnutrition, inflammation of a section of the colon, and the presence of a large mass in the abdomen, likely originating from the colon.
The PHRI report also included witness testimony of Walid’s final moments.
It revealed that even after Walid collapsed, Israeli prison guards refused to help. They eventually came to remove his corpse:
According to his testimony, Walid stepped out of his cell into the prison yard when he suddenly collapsed. Other detained minors tried to assist him and called for help from the guards, but the guards refused to help. When they realized he had died, they carried his body to the entrance of the prison wing, where guards eventually came and removed him.
Continuing another ghastly practice, the Israelis continue to withhold Walid’s body from his family. Walid’s surviving parents and three siblings are still waiting for closure.
I’ve never put up a paywall, but this newsletter wouldn’t be possible without your support. If you are able, please consider supporting my work with a paid subscription here, on Ko-fi, or on Patreon. You can also buy me a coffee or two at the link below. Thank you!
Oh my god
The Zionists have committed all the crimes
This injustice must stop
Free Palestine
Such horrendous actions and blaringly obvious mistreatment of this young man who had so much to look forward to, but whose life was cut short.
I'm so sorry for his family who must now face this unbelievable loss without him.