Walid Khalid Abdullah Ahmad was a normal, healthy 17 year old, Brazilian Palestinian high school student and soccer fan until his arrest in September 2024 by the IOF forces in the West Bank. He died on March 22, 2025 and due to his age and unknown nature of his death, Israel was forced to perform an autopsy. The results were published today by the international aid group Defense for Children and they tell a very sad, grim, damning and horrific story, one that we’ve been hearing over and over from detainees who survived Israel prison system.
The reason given for his arrest was the standard accusation of throwing rocks at soldiers but this is basically the one size fits all IDF claim, that has been proven to be often a complete fabrication. Recently it was used as an excuse for the vicious beating and “arrest” of No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal. But whatever the facts of his alleged crimes and arrest are, we will never know them because the IDF version cannot be trusted, and as there was no formal charge, he never had adequate legal representation or a chance to clear his name during the six months of his detention.
His father, who was able to sit on Walid’s four online pre trial hearings, was gravely concerned throughout his detention because Walid showed signs of increasing poor health. When he finally collasped in the prison courtyard on March 22, and hit his head on a metal pipe, the IDF ignored him and refused to get him help. It was fellow child detainees who carried him to the guard station to get him help. But by then it was too late and he was pronounced dead at arrival to the clinic.
The autopsy performed by Israeli coroners found that it was a combination of systemic starvation, dehydration, beatings and lack of medical care for conditions like dysentary that are known to be fatal if left untreated, were the factors that killed him. So in other words, Israel killed this child detainee by starving and beating him to death and refusing him treatment for fatal and easily treatable illnesses. These facts are irrefutable as the actual signs of all the factors, including beatings, remained and were evidenced on Walid’s body.
Walid is the first child detainee to die in Israel prisons. 63 adult detainees have also died in prison since Oct 7, 2023, and there are currently 113 other child detainees in Israeli’s adult prisons. It also cannot be stressed enough that a vast number of these detainees are completely innocent. Journalists, doctors, aid workers, random civilians and NGO staff have all been arbitrarily detained and some killed, raped and beaten to death while in unlawful detention.
It is not lawful to detain children in adults jails, as Israel does, even if in their own wing. It also illegal to detain children as young as 13 years old, who are completely innocent without charge for months and years but Israel does that as well. These acts are illegal under international law, western law and rhe international rights of the child. And the legal process all Palestinian detainees go through is a farce of western democratic justice and rule of law, and a complete denial and ignoring of them.
Somehow, though Israel remains our ally and beneficiary, allowed to continue its human rights, children’s rights violations and ethnic cleasning without threat or worry of losing western arms or support. Something all world leaders should be ashamed to be ignoring as they have for decades.
There is no excuse or justification for any of Israel’s actions, pre or post Oct 7. The genocide, occupation, blockade, apartheid, and routine, 24/7 acts of state terror and murder against Palestinian civilians is completely unjustifiable, and unfathomable in its scope, needlessness and cruelty. All of this unlawful activity, and critism of it, safely blanketed by Israel’s go to excuse of need due to “security threat”, or fighting “militancy”, “insurgency”, or “terrorism”. This is a blatant lie as Israel obviously has all the ability, funds and technology to secure Israel 100% without killing a single Palestinian, and they also know why the terror acts occur and how to stop them morally, and peacefully.
In light of this, it’s not outlandish to reason that the real motivation for all the actions of Israel, since it’s inception has been to incur, nurture, breed and maintain desperation, anger and rebellion in Palestinian society, and use the resultant acts of violent resistence to excuse their long running genocide, state terrorism and murder of Palestinians. The reason for it all is to achieve the one clear aim of the zionist project, laid out by the founders of the movement, to inhabit and claim all of Palestine for Israel and to remove through whatever means necessary, the indigenous Palestinian populations. Clearly a colonialist and ethnic cleasing pogrom that we are now witnessing in all its horrific cruelty, injustice, deceit and destruction, that the Israel prime minister Netanyahu and his far right allies in government, and his trained terrorist army are obviously trying to bring to its victorious conclusion, thanks to full US support of the erasure of Palestine and the Palestine people.
There have been plausible and serious question raised about Netanyahu’s role in Oct 7 and its possible prevention. He was warned but chose to ignore and scorn numerous security and military attempts to get him to warn the public of an imminent mass attack by Hamas, starting in April of 2023. Why did he then boldly announce increased settlement building in May 2023? Was it because he wanted Oct 7 to happen? And why did he not warn Israeli of the attack. Surely that would have put people on high alert that holiday weekend, instead of feeling secure in letting their children attend a music festival next to Gaza and communities sending their police home for the holidays. But his failings in this protection aren’t new. Isrsel has always cared about security and protection, but of it’s settlements, and occupation, control of the OPT, not Israelis. But still the world continues to believe and support Netanyahu and Israel’s blatant lies, genocide and wars, and the zionist dream of the total erasure of Palestine.
We all hope he, his generals, his backers, party affiliates and zionists worldwide that have kept the killing, genocide, war cries, lies and hatred of Palestinians, muslims alive and thriving for the past 18 months, will be punished for their actions. But truthfully, full, true justice is a long shot in this world, and most likely Jews and the rest of the world will pay the very high cost of this folly and evil, not Israel and its actual perpetrators. But for the family of Walid and the 17000+ other children killed by Israel since Oct 7, justice will never bring their children back, or brings the parents and siblings back for the many hundrends of now orphaned Palestinian children. It won’t bring into reality the world these parents, families wanted for their children. But it may start this journey, and I hope that for the families, friends, activists and people grieving this teenager’s death and all these unjust deaths, real justice will come, and the peace, and return of hope, normalacy and life that it brings.
Rest in peace and true power Walid. Because the only power on earth is love, truth, justice and peace. 🇵🇸🍉🪽
https://www.dci-palestine.org/17_year_old_palestinian_child_prisoner_starved_to_death_by_israeli_prison_guards
