Gaza militants fired rockets on Tuesday after the death in Israeli custody of a leading figure in the Islamic Jihad group, who had been on hunger strike for nearly three months.
Shortly after the death of Khader Adnan was announced, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a volley of rockets into southern Israel.
Adnan had been on hunger strike since his detention by Israeli forces on February 5 in the northern West Bank.
Israel said Adnan “refused to undergo medical tests and receive medical treatment” and “was found unconscious in his cell” early on Tuesday morning.
Israel’s prison service said Adnan was evacuated to hospital after failed attempts to revive him and was pronounced dead. Adnan’s lawyer accused Israel of medical negligence.
“After 36 days of Adnan’s arrest, we demanded he be moved into a civil hospital where he can be properly followed up. Unfortunately, such a demand was met by intransigence and rejection by the Israeli prison authorities,” lawyer Jamil Al-Khatib told Reuters by phone.
Rockets fly in Gaza after Israeli police attack Al-Aqsa Mosque worshippers
Islamic Jihad warned Israel will “pay the price for this crime”, in a statement by the group which is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
“The free hero, Khader Adnan, died as a martyr in a crime committed by the enemy in front of the world,” the militant group said in a statement.
The 45-year-old was being held under administrative detention – a controversial Israeli measure under which people are interned without charge.
Israel’s prison service said Adnan had been charged this time with “involvement in terrorist activities”, and that he was in jail for the 10th time.
The head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, Qaddura Faris, said Adnan was the “first Palestinian to die as a result of his hunger strike” in Israeli custody.
Other Palestinian detainees have died “as a result of attempts to force feed them”, Faris said.
Adnan’s wife, Randa Mousa, previously said her husband had carried out multiple hunger strikes in detention.
“(He is) refusing any support, refusing medical examinations, he is in a cell with very difficult detention conditions,” she said last week.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967 and its forces regularly detain Palestinians, who are subject to Israeli military courts.
Adnan was being held in the clinic at Ramla prison in central Israel, Mousa said.
At least 21 killed, several injured in Gaza Strip fire
“They (Israel) have refused to transfer him to a civilian hospital, they refused to allow his lawyer a visit,” she added.
Israel is currently holding over 1,000 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial, the highest number since 2003, according to the Israeli human rights group HaMoked.
That figure has grown in the past year as Israel has carried out almost nightly arrest raids in the occupied West Bank in the wake of a string of deadly Palestinian attacks in Israel in early 2022.
Israel says the controversial tactic helps authorities thwart attacks and hold dangerous militants without divulging incriminating material for security reasons.
Palestinians and rights groups say the system is widely abused and denies due process, with the secret nature of the evidence making it impossible for administrative detainees or their lawyers to mount a defence.
Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters
