Cautious Calm Returns to Libya’s Gharyan After Armed Clashes

GNU Chief of Staff General Mohamed Haddad meets with the Libyan mayors. (Chief of Staff)
GNU Chief of Staff General Mohamed Haddad meets with the Libyan mayors. (Chief of Staff)
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Cautious Calm Returns to Libya’s Gharyan After Armed Clashes

GNU Chief of Staff General Mohamed Haddad meets with the Libyan mayors. (Chief of Staff)
GNU Chief of Staff General Mohamed Haddad meets with the Libyan mayors. (Chief of Staff)

A temporary calm has settled over the city of Gharyan in northwestern Libya following armed clashes involving medium-caliber weapons between two factions aligned with Tripoli authorities.

Violent clashes erupted in the city of Gharyan, south of Tripoli, between a militia loyal to Ghnewa al-Kakli, commander of the Stability Support Apparatus that is affiliated with the Presidential Council, and the 444 Combat Brigade, which is part of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

The fighting was triggered by the arrest of eight members of the 444 Combat Brigade from Gharyan by the 555 Brigade, a force under al-Kakli's command. The 444 Combat Brigade is led by Mahmoud Hamza, the head of military intelligence in western Libya.

The clashes have ceased for now, but tension remains high as armed militias continue to vie for control and expand their influence on the ground.

In an update on security matters, GNU Chief of Staff General Mohamed Haddad, met with mayors from Zuwara, Nalut, Jadu, Yefren, and Al-Qalaa, along with several officers and military personnel, to discuss security issues in these areas.

Haddad assured the mayors that the military supports the legitimate demands of the people in these regions and is committed to helping stabilize them and all of Libya.

In a separate development, the UN mission in Libya stated that its head, Hanna Tetteh, accompanied by Deputy Special Representative and Resident Coordinator Aeneas Chuma, met with a group of African ambassadors in Tripoli on Wednesday as part of their initial round of consultations with the diplomatic corps.

The mission’s statement explained that the meeting, hosted by the Ghanaian Ambassador in Tripoli, focused on the work of the mission and provided an update on the Advisory Committee's activities.

It also reviewed regional challenges influenced by the developments in Libya.

The consultations emphasized enhancing coordination between the United Nations and the African Union to strengthen cooperation on shared issues, including regional security, migration, and supporting national reconciliation in Libya.



A 17-Year-Old from the West Bank Becomes the First Palestinian Teenager to Die in an Israeli Prison

An Israeli military vehicle is parked outside the martyrs cemetery, while Palestinians try to visit the tombs of relatives as part of the ritual at the start of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 30, 2025. (AFP)
An Israeli military vehicle is parked outside the martyrs cemetery, while Palestinians try to visit the tombs of relatives as part of the ritual at the start of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 30, 2025. (AFP)
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A 17-Year-Old from the West Bank Becomes the First Palestinian Teenager to Die in an Israeli Prison

An Israeli military vehicle is parked outside the martyrs cemetery, while Palestinians try to visit the tombs of relatives as part of the ritual at the start of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 30, 2025. (AFP)
An Israeli military vehicle is parked outside the martyrs cemetery, while Palestinians try to visit the tombs of relatives as part of the ritual at the start of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 30, 2025. (AFP)

A 17-year-old from the West Bank who was held in an Israeli prison for six months without being charged died after collapsing in unclear circumstances, becoming the first Palestinian teen to die in Israeli detention, officials said.

Walid Ahmad was a healthy high schooler before his arrest in September for allegedly throwing stones at soldiers, his family said. Rights groups have documented widespread abuse in Israeli detention facilities holding thousands of Palestinians who were rounded up after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip.

Prison authorities deny any systematic abuse and say they investigate accusations of wrongdoing by prison staff. But the Israeli ministry overseeing prisons acknowledges conditions inside detention facilities have been reduced to the minimum level allowed under Israeli law.

Israel’s prison service did not respond to questions about the cause of death. It said only that a 17-year-old from the West Bank had died in Megiddo Prison, a facility that has previously been accused of abusing Palestinian inmates, “with his medical condition being kept confidential.” It said it investigates all deaths in detention.

Khalid Ahmad, Walid’s father, said his son was a lively teen who enjoyed playing soccer before he was taken from his home in the occupied West Bank during a pre-dawn arrest raid.

Six months later, after several brief court appearances during which no trial date was set, Walid collapsed on March 23 in a prison yard and struck his head, dying soon after, Palestinians officials said, citing eyewitness accounts from other prisoners.

The family believes Walid contracted amoebic dysentery from the poor conditions in the prison, an infection that causes diarrhea, vomiting and dizziness — and can be fatal if left untreated.

Walid is the 63rd Palestinian prisoner from the West Bank or Gaza to die in Israeli custody since the start of the war, according to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank. Palestinian prisoner rights groups say that is about one-fifth of the roughly 300 Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody since the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.

The Palestinian Authority says Israel is holding the bodies of 72 Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli jails, including 61 who died since the beginning of the war.

Conditions in Israeli prisons have worsened since the start of the war, former detainees told The Associated Press. They described beatings, severe overcrowding, insufficient medical care, scabies outbreaks and poor sanitary conditions.

Israel’s National Security Ministry, which oversees the prison service and is run by ultranationalist Cabinet Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has boasted of reducing the conditions of Palestinian detainees “to the minimum required by law.” It says the policy is aimed at deterring attacks.

‘Don’t worry about me’

Israel has rounded up thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, saying it suspects them of militancy. Many have been held for months without charge or trial in what is known as administrative detention, which Israel justifies as a necessary security measure. Others are arrested on suspicion of aggression toward soldiers but have their trials continuously delayed, as the military and Israel's security services gather evidence.

Walid sat through at least four court appearances over videoconference, his father said, but each time the judge delayed, eventually setting an April 21 trial date. Each session was about three minutes, Walid's father said.

In a February session, four months after Walid was detained, his father noticed that his son appeared to be in poor health.

“His body was weakened due to malnutrition in the prisons in general,” the elder Ahmad said. He said Walid told him he had gotten scabies — a contagious skin rash caused by mites that causes intense itching— but had been cured.

“Don’t worry about me,” his father remembers him saying.

Khalid Ahmad later visited his son's friend, a former soccer teammate who had been held with Walid in the same prison. The friend told him Walid had lost weight but that he was OK.

Four days later, the family heard that a 17-year-old had died in the prison. An hour and half later, they got the news that it was Walid.

“We felt the same way as all the parents of the prisoners and all the families and mothers of the prisoners,” said Khalid Ahmad. “We can only say ’Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to him we shall return.'”

Cause of death is unknown

Walid’s lawyer, Firas al-Jabrini, said Israeli authorities denied his requests to visit his client in prison. But he says three prisoners held alongside Walid told him that he was suffering from dysentery, saying it was widespread among young Palestinians held at the facility.

They said Walid suffered from severe diarrhea, vomiting, headaches and dizziness, the lawyer said. He said they suspected the disease was spreading because of dirty water, as well as cheese and yogurt that prison guards brought in the morning and that sat out all day while detainees were fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Megiddo, in northern Israel, "is the harshest prison for minors,” al-Jabrini said. He said he was told that rooms designed for six prisoners often held 16, with some sleeping on the floor. Many complained of scabies and eczema.

Thaer Shriteh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority’s detainee commission, said Walid collapsed and hit his head on a metal rod, losing consciousness. “The prison administration did not respond to the prisoners’ requests for urgent care to save his life,” he said, citing witnesses who spoke to the commission.

The lawyer and the Palestinian official both said an autopsy is needed to determine the cause of death. Israel has agreed to perform one, but a date has not been set.

“The danger in this matter is that the Israeli occupation authorities have not yet taken any action to stop this (disease) and have not provided any treatment in general to save the prisoners in Megiddo prison,” Shriteh said.