Israel hands over body of Palestinian teen who died in custody

The Israeli authorities have handed over the body of 17-year-old Palestinian detainee Walid Khaled Ahmad, who died in March 2025 while held in Megiddo Prison after six months of detention, Wafa reports. Ahmed died after he had been starved and denied medical treatment, according to the report. His body was released following legal efforts by Nadia Daqa, a lawyer with the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs. Testimonies collected by Defence for Children International indicate that he became dizzy and collapsed on 22 March 2025. Fellow detainees said they called for help, but guards did not respond. They said they carried him to the yard gate, where guards eventually took him away. In December 2025 an Israeli court in Hadera closed the investigation into his death, claiming all avenues had been exhausted, despite finding indications he had been starved. Israeli authorities continue to withhold the bodies of 98 Palestinian prisoners who have died in custody since 1967. Walid Ahmad, 17, died in Israeli custody in March 2025 after being starved by prison guards (X)