© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Khader Adnan gestures as he speaks throughout a rally honoring him following his launch, close to the West Financial institution metropolis of Jenin July 12, 2015. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini
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By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Henriette Chacar
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) -Israeli jets struck targets throughout Gaza late on Tuesday as armed teams there fired rocket barrages towards Israel in response to the dying of a Palestinian starvation striker in Israeli custody.
Plumes of smoke spiralled into the evening sky because the jets hit targets that the Israeli navy mentioned included weapons manufacturing websites and coaching camps of Hamas, the Islamist group that governs the blockaded coastal enclave.
On the similar time, sirens sounded in southern Israeli cities together with Ashkelon, about 14 km (9 miles) north of Gaza. Hamas radio reported that militant factions within the space continued firing rockets in response to the dying of Khader Adnan, which sources within the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad mentioned was one in every of its political leaders.
The preventing, a few month after the final cross-border trade of fireside between Israel and Gaza, got here after Adnan died early on Tuesday following an 87-day starvation strike in an Israeli jail.
Adnan, who was awaiting trial, was discovered unconscious in his cell and brought to a hospital, the place he was declared useless after efforts to revive him, Israel’s Prisons Service mentioned. He was the primary Palestinian starvation striker to die in Israeli custody in additional than 30 years.
Lots of of individuals took to the streets in Gaza and the occupied West Financial institution to rally and mourn Adnan’s dying, which Palestinian leaders described as an assassination.
In Gaza, an umbrella group of armed Palestinian factions together with Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed duty for a sequence of rocket barrages fired in direction of Israel in the course of the day.
The Israeli navy mentioned at the least 30 rockets had been fired from Gaza. Two landed within the small Israeli metropolis of Sderot simply east of Gaza, wounding three individuals, together with a 25-year-old overseas nationwide who Israel’s ambulance service mentioned sustained critical shrapnel wounds.
Within the West Financial institution metropolis of Hebron, outlets noticed a basic strike. Some protesters burned tires and hurled stones at Israeli troopers who fired tear gasoline and rubber bullets at them. There have been no stories of accidents.
Since 2011, Adnan carried out at the least three starvation strikes to protest detention with out fees by Israel. The tactic has been utilized by different Palestinian prisoners, typically en masse, however none had died since 1992.
Adnan’s lawyer Jamil Al-Khatib and a physician with a human rights group who lately met him accused Israeli authorities of withholding medical care.
“We demanded he be moved right into a civilian hospital the place he might be correctly monitored. Sadly, such a requirement was met by intransigence and rejection,” Al-Khatib instructed Reuters.
Adnan, 45, was a baker and a father of 9 from Jenin within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution. Islamic Jihad has a restricted West Financial institution presence however is the second strongest armed group in Hamas-ruled Gaza, the place Israeli forces fought a quick conflict towards it final August.
Lina Qasem Hassan of Physicians for Human Rights in Israel mentioned she noticed Adnan on April 23, at which level he had misplaced 40 kg (88 kilos) and was having hassle shifting and respiration however was aware.
“His dying might have been averted,” Qasem Hassan instructed Reuters, saying a number of Israeli hospitals had refused to confess Adnan after he made transient visits to their emergency rooms.
The Prisons Service mentioned hospitalisation had not been an choice as Adnan had declined “even a preliminary inspection”.
‘FIGHT IS CONTINUING’
Physicians for Human Rights mentioned Israeli authorities had denied requests by Adnan and his household to go to him in jail.
Talking from the household’s residence within the northern West Financial institution city of Arraba close to Jenin, Adnan’s spouse, Randa Musa, mentioned: “Our message to all of the resistance teams is, we don’t need the weapons that weren’t used to free the sheikh (Adnan) for use after his dying. We don’t wish to see any bloodshed.”
Earlier than one spherical of rockets, Hamas radio mentioned an Israeli tank shelled one of many group’s commentary posts in Gaza.
“Our battle is constant and the enemy will realise as soon as once more that its crimes won’t move with out a response,” Islamic Jihad mentioned in an announcement.
A Hamas assertion revealed early on Wednesday mentioned the group’s chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was in talks with Egyptian, Qatari and UN officers to finish Israel’s “aggression on Gaza”.
In line with the Palestinian Prisoners Affiliation, Adnan was arrested by Israel 12 occasions, spending round eight years in jail, principally beneath so-called “administrative detention” – or detention with out fees.
Israel says such detentions are required when proof can’t be revealed in court docket because of the must preserve intelligence sources secret. Palestinians and rights teams say Israel routinely makes use of such detentions, which deny due course of, to carry tons of of Palestinians for extended intervals of time.
This time, Adnan was arrested and indicted in an Israeli navy court docket on fees that included hyperlinks to an outlawed group and incitement to violence, the Prisons Service mentioned.
