Khader Adnan, a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody died early on Tuesday. Adnan was observing a hunger strike for nearly three months. Adnan began his strike shortly after being arrested on February 5.
Khader Adnan's death raises the potential for conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant groups during a period of already high tensions. Shortly after his death was announced, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a volley of rockets into southern Israel.
Adnan, a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group, had gone on hunger strikes several times after previous arrests. That included a 55-day strike in 2015 to protest his arrest under so-called administrative detention, in which suspects are held indefinitely without charge or trial.
Adnan reportedly “refused to undergo medical tests and receive medical treatment” and “was found unconscious in his cell”. According to an Israeli rights group HaMoked, Israel is currently holding over 1,000 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial.
As of April 2023, about 4,900 are being held in Israeli prisons; they are according to Palestine, political prisoners who are fighting to end Israel's illegal occupation. “Khader Adnan has been executed in cold blood,” the WAED Prisoners Association in Gaza told Reuters.
“Our fight is continuing and the enemy will realise once again that its crimes will not pass without a response. Resistance will continue by all might and determination,” Palestinian Islamic Jihad told Al Jazeera.
--With PTI inputs
