The Israeli army performed air strikes and traded fireplace with Gaza militants on Tuesday in a flare-up of violence following the demise in Israeli custody of a Palestinian prisoner on starvation strike.

The military mentioned it hit Gaza with “tank fire” in response to rockets from the Palestinian enclave, sparking a renewed volley from Gaza witnessed by AFP journalists.

The military late on Tuesday mentioned it was finishing up air strikes on Gaza. The raids focused a number of websites, together with one belonging to Islamist motion Hamas that controls the territory, based on safety sources and Palestinian witnesses.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, mentioned it responded by firing surface-to-air missiles.

The alternate of fireside got here after 45-year-old prisoner Khader Adnan died, practically three months after being detained within the occupied West Bank over his ties to the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh described his demise as a “deliberate assassination”, charging Israel had 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 demise was initially adopted by three rockets fired by militants from Gaza, the Israeli military mentioned.

Israel’s retaliatory tank fireplace was met with an additional 22 projectiles launched from Gaza, the army reported.

A joint assertion by militant factions in Gaza, together with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, mentioned the rocket fireplace was an “initial response” to Adnan’s demise.

The Magen David Adom emergency service mentioned three individuals have been wounded with shrapnel within the Sderot space, close to the Gaza border.

Gaza mortar fireplace

After assembly with the army chief, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned “anyone who attempts to harm the citizens of Israel will be sorry.”

Adnan was the primary Palestinian to die as a direct results of a starvation strike, based on advocacy group the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

Other Palestinian detainees have died “as a result of attempts to force feed them”, mentioned the group’s director Qaddura Faris.

Palestinians launched a normal strike in West Bank cities in response to Adnan’s demise.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir mentioned jail officers determined to shut cells to “prevent riots”.

“The directive to the prisoner service is zero tolerance towards hunger strikes and disturbances in security prisons,” he mentioned.

In the night, six mortar shells have been fired in direction of Israel, falling in Gaza and within the space of the safety fence, the Israeli military mentioned.

‘Pay the worth’

A senior Israeli official described Adnan as “a hunger striker who refused medical attention, risking his life”.

“The military appeal court decided against releasing him from detention solely on the merit of his medical condition,” mentioned the official, who requested anonymity as a result of they weren’t authorised to talk publicly to the media.

Adnan was described by the official as an “operative” of Islamic Jihad, who was going through fees associated to his actions throughout the militant group.

Israel has occupied the West Bank because the 1967 Six-Day War and its forces commonly detain Palestinians, who’re topic to Israeli army courts.

Islamic Jihad, which is taken into account a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States, warned Israel would “pay the price for this crime”.

Israel’s jail service mentioned Adnan was in jail for the tenth time and his spouse, Randa Mousa, beforehand advised AFP her husband had carried out a number of starvation strikes in detention.

Family in opposition to Gaza rockets

Speaking on Tuesday, Mousa mentioned she was pleased with her husband’s “martyrdom” which the household wears like “a crown on our heads”.

But she cautioned militants in opposition to launching a violent response.

“We don’t want a drop of blood to be shed,” she advised journalists within the household’s hometown of Arraba within 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.”

In his ultimate message, Adnan mentioned he was “sending you these words as my flesh and fat has melted”.

“I pray that God accepts me as a faithful martyr,” he wrote, in a message printed Monday by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel mentioned its medic visited Adnan and raised his “life-threatening condition and the need for immediate hospital transfer”.

Israeli rights group BTselem described his starvation strike as “a form of non-violent protest against his arrest and the injustices of the occupation”.

“The fact that a person whose life was in danger remained in prison despite repeated requests to transfer him to a hospital reflects the absolute disregard Israel held for his life,” the organisation mentioned.