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Hamas Arrests Dozens of Protesters in Gaza

Protest in Gaza. (Photo: AFP)
Protest in Gaza. (Photo: AFP)
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Hamas Arrests Dozens of Protesters in Gaza

Protest in Gaza. (Photo: AFP)
Protest in Gaza. (Photo: AFP)

Fierce clashes have erupted between Hamas movement forces and hundreds of demonstrators protesting the high cost of living in the Gaza Strip and taxes on basic products.

Since Thursday, hundreds of Palestinians have taken to the streets in multiple locations throughout the enclave. But the movement has cracked down on protesters, using force to disperse them and arresting dozens, including journalists and human rights activists.

Fatah movement accused Hamas of targeting and storming the houses of its members and threatening their families.

Hamas forces have also stormed al-Azhar University in the Strip and arrested a number of students.

In a statement, the university stressed that faculties are for studying and education, demanding respect for the sanctity of educational institutions.

Among those arrested was director of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) in Gaza Rafat al-Qudra.

In a statement, the Corporation said Hamas had kidnapped the station’s director and “crossed all red lines,” calling for the immediate release of Qudra and all detainees, especially journalists.

The Journalists Syndicate said it had documented 36 violations by Hamas members against journalists in the Palestinian enclave in the past two days.

The syndicate said in a statement on Sunday that since the start of the protests, 17 demonstrators were arrested and only 10 were released. Four required hospitalization.

It said it had documented instances where security forces had beaten journalists and had confiscated their cellphones and equipment.

The union registered six summonses, four cases of intimidation, and two house arrests for four days. It condemned the Hamas crackdown, especially the arrest of Osama al-Kahlout who was beaten by the security forces and held for four days.

The Palestinian Authority also made a condemnation, saying it backed all Palestinian factions, except for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in their demands as part of the “We Want to Live” movement launched by activists.

The UN Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, denounced the arrests and use of violence “against protesters, including women and children, in Gaza over the past three days.”

He warned he was “particularly alarmed by the brutal beating” of journalists and staff from the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) and the raiding of homes.

“The long-suffering people of Gaza were protesting the dire economic situation and demanded an improvement in the quality of life in the Gaza Strip”, said the Special Coordinator, adding that it was their right to protest without fear of reprisal.

“The United Nations will continue its efforts to avoid escalation, relieve the suffering of people in Gaza, lift the closures, and support reconciliation.”

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Palestinian Teenager Who Died in Israeli Prison Showed Signs of Starvation

Khaled Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, “The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs,” in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Khaled Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, “The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs,” in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
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Palestinian Teenager Who Died in Israeli Prison Showed Signs of Starvation

Khaled Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, “The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs,” in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Khaled Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, “The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs,” in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Starvation was likely the leading cause of death for a Palestinian teenager who died in an Israeli prison, according to an Israeli doctor who observed the autopsy.
Seventeen-year-old Walid Ahmad, who had been held for six months without being charged, suffered from extreme malnutrition, and also showed signs of inflammation of the colon and scabies, said a report written by Dr. Daniel Solomon, who watched the autopsy, conducted by Israeli experts, at the request of the boy's family.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of Solomon's report from the family. It did not conclude a cause of death, but said Ahmad was in a state of extreme weight loss and muscle wasting. It also noted that Ahmad had complained to the prison of inadequate food since at least December, citing reports from the prison medical clinic.
Ahmad died last month after collapsing in Megiddo Prison and striking his head, Palestinian officials said, citing eyewitness accounts from other prisoners. Israel’s prison service said a team was appointed to investigate Ahmad’s death and its findings would be sent to the authorized authorities.
Ahmad is the youngest Palestinian prisoner to die in an Israeli prison since the start of the Gaza war, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, which has documented Palestinian prisoner deaths. He was taken into custody from his home in the occupied West Bank during a pre-dawn raid in September for allegedly throwing stones at soldiers, his family said.
The autopsy was conducted on March 27 at Israel’s Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, which has not released a report of its findings and did not respond to requests for comment. The Ahmad family's lawyer, Nadia Daqqa, confirmed Solomon, a gastrointestinal surgeon, was granted permission to observe the autopsy by an Israeli civil court.
Widespread abuse in Israeli prisons, rights groups say 
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. 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. Israel often holds on to bodies of dead Palestinians, citing security grounds or for political leverage.
Conditions in Israeli prisons have worsened since the start of the war, former detainees have told the AP. They described beatings, severe overcrowding, insufficient medical care, scabies outbreaks and poor sanitary conditions.
Megiddo Prison, a maximum security facility where many Palestinian detainees, including teens, are held without charge, is regarded as one of the harshest, said Naji Abbas, head of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel.
Israel’s prison service said it operates according to the law and all prisoners are given basic rights.
Ahmad’s lawyer, Firas al-Jabrini, said Israeli authorities denied his requests to visit his client in prison, but three prisoners held there told him Ahmad suffered from severe diarrhea, vomiting, headaches and dizziness before he died. They suspected it was caused by dirty water, as well as cheese and yogurt prison guards brought in the morning and that sat out all day while detainees were fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the lawyer said.
Malnourished and frail 
According to Dr. Solomon's report the autopsy showed that Ahmed likely suffered from inflammation of the large intestine, a condition known as colitis that can cause frequent diarrhea and can in some cases contribute to death.
But medical experts said colitis usually doesn’t cause death in young patients and was likely exacerbated by severe malnutrition.
“He suffered from starvation that led to severe malnutrition and in combination with untreated colitis that caused dehydration and electrolyte levels disturbances in his blood which can cause heart rate abnormalities and death,” said Dr. Lina Qasem Hassan, the head of the board for Physicians for Human Rights Israel who reviewed the report at the request of the AP.
She said the findings indicated medical neglect, exacerbated by Ahmad’s inability to fight disease or infection because of how malnourished and frail he was.
Dr. Arne Stray-Pedersen, a professor of forensic medicine at the University of Oslo in Norway who was not involved in the autopsy, said the report suggests there was a period of prolonged malnutrition and sickness lasting at least a few weeks or months. “Based on the report, I interpret the underlying cause of death to be emaciation-wasting,” he said.
Scabies rashes were also noted on his legs and genital area, the report said. There was also air between his lungs that expanded into his neck and back, it said, which can cause infection. Air can come from small tears in the lungs, which can occur from severe vomiting or coughing, it said.
Ahmad’s family said he was a healthy high schooler who enjoyed playing soccer before he was taken into custody. His father, Khalid Ahmad, said his son sat through four brief court hearings by videoconference, and he noticed at one of them, in February, that his son appeared to be in poor health.
The family hasn’t yet received a death certificate from Israel, the elder Ahmad said Friday, and are hoping Dr. Solomon's report will help bring his son's body home.
“We will demand our son’s body for burial," he said “What is happening in Israeli prisons is a real tragedy, as there is no value for life.”