On Wednesday evening, 4 December 2024, Palestinian prisoners’ organizations announced the martyrdom of re-arrested liberated prisoner Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali (al-Aref), 45, of Nour Shams camp in Tulkarem inside the Zionist occupation prisons. He was abducted along with three other men from Nour Shams camp on 28 November 2024, when the invasion of occupation soldiers into the camp was met with a fierce response from the Resistance.
He was only in the occupation prisons for one week and was held in the notorious interrogation cells at the time of his martyrdom. Before his abduction by the occupation forces, he was healthy and well; he is married and the father of one child, and his wife is currently pregnant awaiting the birth of their second child. Given the circumstances of his martyrdom, it is clear that the attack on him is essentially an assassination behind bars, under torture in interrogation.
Mohammed Walid Ali al-Aref is a former prisoner who served 19 years inside the colonial Zionist prisons. During his time in prison, he was a leader in the prisoners’ movement and held several organizational positions, including representative of the Hamas prisoners in the Naqab desert prison and played an active role in struggles behind bars to defend the rights and achievements of imprisoned Palestinians.
He was released on 12 December 2021 in a celebration bringing together his family, loved ones, comrades and brothers in Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement.
The celebration of his release was attacked by Palestinian Authority “security forces” acting in “security coordination” with the Zionist regime, an attack condemned by — among others — the martyr Sheikh Khader Adnan, who was present for the welcoming occasion.
The martytdom of Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali al-Aref, held in Zionist prisons for only one week before he was martyred under interrogation, is part and parcel of the Zionist genocidal war on the Palestinian people and the Palestinian prisoners. He is now at least the 48th martyr of the prisoners’ movement since 7 October 2023, including 29 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza. It is clear that this number is incomplete, as at least dozens of Palestinians from Gaza were martyred under severe torture in the occupation prisons and detention camps, and the occupation has refused to release information about their names and the date of their martyrdom.
There are currently over 10,200 Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist prisons, although this number does not include all of the prisoners from Gaza, hundreds or thousands of whom have been subjected to enforced disappearance and whose names, locations, medical status and very life or death continue to be concealed by the occupation. There are at least 3443 Palestinians held under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial (first brought to Palestine by the British colonial mandate and since enthusiastically adopted by the Zionist regime), 90 women prisoners and 270 imprisoned children, among this number.
All Palestinian prisoners are being subjected to medical abuse, extreme violence and deliberate starvation. The occupation regime recognizes that the Palestinian prisoners’ movement is a keystone of the Palestinian liberation struggle and is seeking to destroy it by all means, including the assassination of the prisoners. Palestinian prisoners from Gaza in particular have been subjected to systematic severe torture, gang rape, and extreme abuse, particularly in the notorious prison camps run specifically to torture Palestinians from Gaza without any kind of external observation.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali al-Aref and extends its condolences to his family, his fellow strugglers, and the Palestinian people. We pledge to redouble our efforts to organize to end the genocide, to stand with the resistance, to liberate the prisoners and for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.
Glory to the martyr!
Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and for all of Palestine, from the river to the sea!
