JERUSALEM (AP) — A high-profile Palestinian prisoner died in Israeli custody on Tuesday after a hunger strike of nearly three months, Israel’s prison service announced. His death set off a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip and raised fears of a further escalation.
Late Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had started airstrikes on Gaza targets, in response to earlier rocket salvos from the coastal strip, run by the militant Hamas group. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.
The case of the Palestinian prisoner has also drawn attention to the tactic of hunger strikes — used by prisoners around the world yet considered a particularly crucial tool for Palestinians held by Israel with few other means at their disposal.
Khader Adnan, 45, a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group, helped introduce the practice of protracted hunger strikes by individual prisoners as a form of protest. Palestinian detainees have mostly used hunger strikes to challenge administrative detention, a controversial tactic in which more than 1,000 Palestinians and a handful of Israelis are currently being held without charge or trial.
Adnan first grabbed international headlines and inspired solidarity protests over a decade ago, when he staged a 66-day hunger strike against his administrative detention. That galvanized hundreds of other prisoners to join the strike, which ended with a deal for his release. He was later arrested again.
Through all levels of Palestinian society — from squalid refugee camps in Gaza to wealthy businesses in the West Bank — Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention are celebrated as national heroes. Israel considers Palestinian prisoners to be terrorists.
Adnan, who was arrested a dozen times and spent nearly a fifth of his life in Israeli prison, became a potent symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s open-ended occupation, now in its 56th year. His use of hunger strikes as a bargaining chip against Israeli authorities — during two other strikes in 2015 and 2018 that lasted 56 and 58 days, respectively — motivated many other desperate Palestinians in administrative detention to refuse food.
Israel’s prison service said Adnan had been charged with “involvement in terrorist activities” following his February arrest. Last week, an Israeli military court denied him bail. A hearing on his appeal was repeatedly postponed.
After the news of his death broke, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired 26 rockets at populated areas in southern Israel, sending shrapnel flying. Three foreign workers were wounded at a construction site in the city of Sderot, Israel’s rescue service said, without identifying their nationalities. One of the foreigners, a 25-year-old man, was reported to be in serious condition. A few hours later, the military said six mortars shells were fired at Israel, most of them falling short and not reaching Israeli territory.
“This is an initial response to this heinous crime,” said a coalition of Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups, led by the enclave’s militant Hamas rulers. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh called it an “assassination," accusing Israel of medical neglect.
Palestinian residents reported several explosions by Israeli air raids in northwestern Gaza City. The targets were not immediately known. Hamas had earlier evacuated military and security targets in anticipation of Israeli strikes.
Air raid sirens sounded and Israeli municipal councils opened public bomb shelters. Field fires broke out. Shrapnel punched holes into pavement, shattered windows and charred cars. Four rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, authorities said.
The Israeli military responded with tank fire into Gaza and said it was planning further retaliation. A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations, said that the army assessed that Islamic Jihad fired the rockets with Hamas' knowledge.
