A Palestinian hunger striker yesterday died in Israeli custody, nearly three months after being detained over his ties to the Islamic Jihad militant group, drawing Arab condemnation of Israel and rocket fire from Gaza.
The death of Khader Adnan was swiftly followed by three rockets fired by Gaza militants, which “fell in open areas,” the Israeli army said. It reported no casualties.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh described the death of Adnan, who was arrested in the occupied West Bank, as a “deliberate assassination by refusing his request for his release, neglecting him medically, and keeping him in his cell despite the seriousness of his health condition.”
Photo: AFP
Israel’s prison service announced the death of a detainee who was affiliated to Islamic Jihad.
He was “found early this morning in his cell unconscious,” the prison service said in a statement.
Adnan, 45, was the first Palestinian to die as a direct result of a hunger strike, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said.
Other Palestinian detainees have died “as a result of attempts to force feed them,” said the advocacy group’s director, Qaddura Faris.
Palestinians shut shops as they observed a general strike in West Bank cities in response to Adnan’s death.
The Arab League said Adnan’s death was “the result of a policy of deliberate medical negligence, which is systematically practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities.”
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir said prison officials decided to close cells to “prevent riots.”
“The directive to the prisoner service is zero tolerance towards hunger strikes and disturbances in security prisons,” he said in a statement.
A senior Israeli official described Adnan as “a hunger striker who refused medical attention, risking his life.”
Adnan was described by the official as an “operative” of Islamic Jihad, who was facing charges related to his activities within the militant group.
Islamic Jihad, which is considered a terrorist organization by the EU and the US, warned that Israel would “pay the price for this crime.”
Adhan’s wife, Randa Mousa, said: “We will only receive well-wishers, because this martyrdom is [like] a wedding, a [moment of] pride for us and a crown on our heads.”
However, she cautioned militants against launching a violent response.
“We don’t want a drop of blood to be shed,” she told journalists in the family’s hometown of Arraba in the northern West Bank.
“We don’t want anyone to respond to the martyrdom. We don’t want someone to launch rockets and then [Israel] strikes Gaza,” she said.
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