- The first such Palestinian deaths on hunger strike since 1992
- Adnan was a member of the Islamic Jihad faction
- Gaza nervous as Israel reports incoming missiles
JERUSALEM, May 2 (Portal) – A prominent Palestinian militant died in Israeli custody on Tuesday after an 87-day hunger strike, authorities said, the first such death in more than three decades, and tensions around Gaza rose as his Faction of Islamic Jihad cursed revenge.
Khader Adnan, who was awaiting trial, was found unconscious in his cell and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead after attempts to revive him, the Israel Prison Service said. He had previously refused medical care from the service, it said.
Since 2011, Adnan has led at least three hunger strikes in protest at detentions without charge by Israel. This tactic was used by other Palestinian prisoners, sometimes en masse, but the last hunger striker to die was in 1992.
A lawyer for Adnan accused Israel of medical negligence.
“We have requested that he be transferred to a civilian hospital where he can be properly followed up. Unfortunately, such a request was met with intransigence and rejection by the Israeli prison authorities,” lawyer Jamil Al-Khatib told Portal.
Adnan, 45, was from Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Islamic Jihad has a limited presence in the West Bank but is the second most powerful armed group in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
“The fight goes on”
“Our fight continues and the enemy will realize once again that their crimes will not pass without a response,” Islamic Jihad, which preaches the destruction of Israel, said in a statement.
Three rockets were fired from Gaza at Israeli border communities, falling in open areas but triggering sirens that sent residents to shelters, the Israeli military said
Israel said it was canceling a military exercise planned for the Gaza Strip periphery Tuesday, “according to an assessment of the situation.” In the West Bank, Israeli authorities said a man was injured in a shootout near a Jewish settlement.
There was no immediate admission of responsibility for Israel’s reported Gaza missiles or the West Bank incident. Israel and Islamic Jihad fought a brief war on the Gaza Strip border in August.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Association, Adnan had been arrested 12 times by Israel and spent around eight years in prison, mostly in so-called “administrative detention” — or detention without charge.
Israel says such detentions are necessary when evidence cannot be disclosed in court because intelligence sources must be kept secret. The Palestinians say they deny due process of law.
This time Adnan was arrested and tried in an Israeli military court on charges involving links to a banned group and inciting violence, the prison service said.
Reporting by Emily Rose, Nidal Al Mughrabi; Edited by Kim Coghill
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Nidal Al-Mughrabi