The body of Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad, a Brazilian-Palestinian teenager who died in Israeli custody at 17, is expected to be returned to his family after about 19 months. (Foto: Instagram)
The body of Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad, a Brazilian-Palestinian teenager who died in an Israeli prison at age 17, is to be released to his family after being held for about 19 months. The Haaretz newspaper reported the planned release on Sunday, Nov. 8.
Ahmad was detained in September 2024 in the occupied West Bank, where he lived with his family. He was transferred to Megiddo Prison in northern Israel after being accused of assaulting Israeli military personnel.
In March 2025, Ahmad collapsed in the prison yard and hit his head. A report by the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv attributed his death to a combination of starvation, dehydration from diarrhea related to colitis, and infectious complications. The report also said he had experienced prolonged malnutrition and been denied medical intervention.
His family was unable to return his body to Palestinian territory immediately after his death. At the time, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu cited issues involving Israel’s policy on holding the bodies of Palestinians to explain the delay in returning his remains.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society says about 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli detention centers. Of those, approximately 3,100 are under administrative detention, a system in which detainees are held without a formal charge or trial. The Israeli government had not commented on Ahmad’s case by the time the report was published.
