It was around 3 am on September 30, 2024, when Israeli soldiers stormed the home of 17-year-old Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

Dragged from his bed in the dead of night, he was one of many Palestinian minors swept up in Israeli military raids and jailed for months. 

Nearly six months later, on March 23, Ahmad collapsed and died in the yard of Megiddo Prison, an Israeli facility notorious for rampant torture, abuse, and neglect.

His death, the first confirmed case of a Palestinian child dying in an Israeli prison, remains shrouded in uncertainty.

According to liaison Palestinian Authority officials, who typically relay information from Israeli officials, Ahmad struck his head on a railing before collapsing. He was also reportedly suffering from scabies and amoebic dysentery.

Yet, the official cause of death has not been released, and his body has not been returned to his family. 

A prison known for abuse and neglect

What is known, and widely condemned, is the environment in which he died.  

Israeli prisons, including Megiddo, detain hundreds of Palestinians — including minors.

As of early 2025, over 300 Palestinian children are estimated to be held in Israeli detention facilities, with dozens reportedly under administrative detention.

These figures fluctuate due to frequent raids and renewals of detention orders, but rights groups have consistently documented a pattern of minors being imprisoned without formal charges or access to due process. The conditions in these prisons are repeatedly criticised by rights organisations.

In footage published by Haaretz in September, Israeli guards at Megiddo were filmed abusing Palestinian detainees: forcing handcuffed prisoners to lie face down, some partially unclothed, while security dogs were unleashed on them.

Just two months ago, TRT World exclusively reported that another 17-year-old Palestinian detainee at Megiddo suffered beatings so severe that they were left with a broken nose, a cracked skull, and fractured ribs.

At the time of his death, Ahmad had not been convicted of any crime. He was held in pre-trial detention, with minimal contact with his family or legal counsel.

According to his father, when Ahmad’s lawyer attempted to ask about his welfare during a court session, the exchange was abruptly cut short. “He asked how the food was and Walid told him it was bad. The judge immediately cut off the call,” his father told Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCIP).

Neither Ahmad’s family nor human rights groups have been able to confirm the exact circumstances of his death. Israel continues to withhold his body, the family’s anguish.

“Walid is the first Palestinian child prisoner in history to die in Israeli custody,” said a spokesperson for DCIP. “It is impossible to understate the urgency with which the international community must finally hold Israeli authorities accountable before more Palestinian children imprisoned in Israel’s dungeons suffer Walid’s fate.”

Israel’s legal void for Palestinian children

Although Israeli authorities have not confirmed whether Ahmad was held under administrative detention, the broader pattern of Israeli military detentions suggest he was. 

Under this policy, Israel regularly detains Palestinians — including minors — without charge or trial, often in pre-dawn raids. Detainees are held indefinitely based on secret evidence, inaccessible to both the accused and their lawyers.

Israeli forces routinely conduct pre-dawn raids in Palestinian homes, abducting minors without explanation and detaining them under the policy of administrative detention, a measure that allows Israel to imprison Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial.

Children placed under administrative detention are never formally charged, leaving them in legal limbo. Orders can last up to six months, but are renewable indefinitely, trapping children in a cycle of indefinite incarceration and psychological distress. 

With no clear timeline for release and no opportunity to challenge their detention, Palestinian children suffer not only physical hardship, but profound mental trauma. 

The widespread use of administrative detention has been condemned by international legal experts, UN agencies, and human rights groups. 

Yet, it remains a central piller of Israel’s military control over the  occupied West Bank — a system in which children like Ahmad are left voiceless, and too often invisible, until it’s too late.