Reply To Rocket Attacks After Palestinian Prisoners Died, Israeli Fighter Jets Attack Gaza Strip

Israeli fighter jets. (Wikimedia Commons/Amit Agronov/IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

JAKARTA - Israeli fighter jets attacked targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night, when armed groups there fired rocket attacks on Israel in response to the death of a Palestinian prisoner who broke down in Israeli prisons.

Smoke soared high in the night sky and explosions were heard when the Israeli military said it had hit targets across Gaza including weapons-making sites and Hamas training camps, the Islamist group that ruled Gaza.

At the same time, sirens were heard in southern Israeli cities including Ashkelon, about 14 km (9 miles) north of Gaza. Radio Hamas reported that militant factions in the area continued to fire rockets in response to the death of Khader Adnan, who sources in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said was one of its political leaders.

Prior to the rocket attack, Hamas radio said an Israeli tank opened fire on one of the group's observation posts in Gaza.

"Our fight continues and the enemy will realize once again that his crimes will not pass without a response," Islamic Jihad said in a statement.

Attacks each other came after Adnan died on Tuesday morning, following a 87-day hunger strike he did in an Israeli prison.

Adnan, who was awaiting trial, was found unconscious in his cell and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead after an attempt to save him, the Israeli Prison Service said.

He was the first Palestinian to go on a hunger strike to die in Israeli custody in more than 30 years.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to protest and lament Adnan's death, described by Palestinian leaders as murder.

In Gaza, Palestinian armed factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a series of rocket attacks fired at Israel during the day.

The Israeli military said at least 30 rockets were fired from Gaza. Two landed in Israel's small town of Sderot in eastern Gaza, wounding three people, including a 25-year-old foreign national who according to Israeli ambulance services suffered serious shrapnel wounds.

Islamic Jihad spokesman Tareq Selmi said fighting had ended on Wednesday dawn. Two Palestinian officials said Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations helped secure the ceasefire.

In the city of Hebron, West Bank, shops were closed due to strikes. Several protesters burned tires and threw stones at Israeli soldiers who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at them. There were no reports of injuries.

Since 2011, Adnan has carried out at least three hunger strikes to protest against Israel's charges. The tactics have been used by other Palestinian prisoners, sometimes in mass, but no one has died since 1992.

Lawyer Adnan Jamil Al-Katib and a doctor from human rights group who recently met him accused Israeli authorities of withholding medical treatment.

"We demand that he be transferred to a civilian hospital where he can be properly monitored. Unfortunately, such a request was addressed with a stubborn attitude and refusal," Al-Katib told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Lina Qasem Hassan of Physics for Human Rights in Israel said she saw Adnan on April 23, where his weight fell 40 kg (88 pounds) and struggled to move and breathe but realized.

"The death could have been avoided," said Qasem Hassan, saying several Israeli hospitals refused to accept Adnan, after he was rushed to their emergency room.

Meanwhile, Prison Services said hospitalization was not an option, as Adnan had refused "even an initial examination".

Separately, doctors for Human Rights said Israeli authorities had rejected Adnan's request and his family to visit him in prison.

Speaking from a family home in the northern West Bank city of Arraba near Jenin, Adnan's wife, Randa Musa, said: "Our message to all resistance groups is, we don't want weapons that are not used to free Syekh (Adnan) from being used after his death. We don't want to see bloodshed."

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Association, Adnan was arrested by Israel 12 times, spending about eight years in prison, mostly under the so-called "administrative detention" - or no charges.

Finally, Adnan was arrested and charged in an Israeli military court on charges related to a banned group and inciting violence, the Prison Service said.

The Israeli side said the detention of without charges was necessary when evidence could not be disclosed in court, due to the need to keep intelligence sources secret.

Meanwhile, Palestinians and human rights groups say Israel routinely uses such detentions, which rejects legal proceedings, to detain hundreds of Palestinians for a long period of time.