Israeli forces carried out airstrikes and exchanged fire with Gaza militants on Tuesday in a wave of violence that followed the death in Israeli custody of a Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike.
The army said it hit Gaza with “tank fire” in response to rockets from the Palestinian territories, firing a volley of artillery from Gaza was witnessed by AFP journalists.
The army late on Tuesday said it carried out airstrikes on Gaza. The raids targeted several sites, including one belonging to the Islamist group Hamas that controls the area, according to security sources and Palestinian witnesses.
Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it responded by firing surface-to-air missiles.
The exchange of fire came after 45-year-old prisoner Khader Adnan died, almost three months after he was detained in the occupied West Bank because of his ties to the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh described his death as a “deliberate murder”, claiming that Israel killed him “by rejecting his request for his release, neglecting him medically and keeping him in his cell, despite the seriousness of his health condition”.
News of his death was first followed by three rockets fired by terrorists from Gaza, the Israeli army said.
Israel’s retaliatory tank fire was met with 22 other projectiles launched from Gaza, the military reported.
A joint statement by militant groups in Gaza, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said the rocket fire was the “first response” to Adnan’s death.
Emergency service Magen David Adom said three people were wounded by shrapnel in the Sderot area, near the Gaza border.
Fire clay gas
After a meeting with the army chief, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned “anyone who tries to harm Israeli citizens will be punished.”
Adnan is the first Palestinian to die as a direct result of the hunger strike, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Association advocacy group.
Other Palestinian detainees have died “as a result of attempts to forcefully feed them”, said the group’s leader Qaddura Faris.
Palestinians launched a general strike in West Bank cities in response to Adnan’s death.
Israel’s rightful National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said prison officials decided to lock the cells to “prevent riots”.
“The directive to prisoner labor is zero tolerance to hunger strikes and harassment in high-security prisons,” he said.
In the evening, six artillery shells were fired at Israel, which fell in Gaza and in the area of the security wall, the Israeli army said.
‘Pay the money’
A senior Israeli official described Adnan as “a starving teacher who refused health care, who risked his life”.
“The military appeals court decided against his release from detention solely on the merit of his medical condition,” said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly to the media.
The official described Adnan as an “activist” of Islamic Jihad, who faces charges related to his activities within the militant group.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War and its forces regularly detain Palestinians, who are subject to Israeli military courts.
Islamic Jihad, which is a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, warned Israel it would “pay the price for this crime”.
The Israeli prison agency said Adnan was in prison for the 10th time and his wife, Randa Mousa, previously told AFP her husband had committed several hunger strikes in detention.
Family against Gaza rockets
Speaking on Tuesday, Mousa said she was proud of her husband’s “martyrdom” which the family wore as a “crown on our heads”.
But he warned terrorists against launching a violent response.
“We don’t want any blood to be shed,” he told reporters in his hometown of Arraba in the northwest.
“We don’t want anyone to respond to the martyrs. We don’t want anyone to launch rockets and then (Israel) attack Gaza.”
In his last message, Adnan said “I am sending you these words as my flesh and fat melt away”.
“I pray that God accept me as a faithful martyr,” he wrote, in a message published on Monday by the Palestinian Prisoners Association.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel said his doctor visited Adnan and raised “his life-threatening condition and the need for immediate hospitalization”.
The Israeli rights group BTselem described his hunger strike as “a kind of non-violent protest against his arrest and unfair labor”.
“The fact that a man whose life is in danger remains in prison despite repeated requests to be transferred to a hospital shows Israel’s complete disregard for his life,” the organization said.
