JERUSALEM — A high-profile Palestinian prisoner died in Israeli custody on Tuesday after a hunger strike of nearly three months, Israel’s prison service announced. His death set off a rocket barrage from the Gaza Strip and raised fears of a further escalation.
It also drew attention to the tactic of hunger strikes used by Palestinian prisoners held by Israel with few other tools at their disposal.
Khader Adnan, a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group, helped introduce the practice of protracted hunger strikes by individual prisoners as a form of protest against Israel’s indefinite detentions of Palestinians without charge or trial — known as administrative detention.
He first grabbed international headlines and inspired solidarity protests when he staged a 66-day hunger strike against his administrative detention in 2012, which ended with a deal for his release. He was later arrested again.
On Tuesday, the 45-year-old, who was awaiting trial, became the first long-term hunger striker to die in Israeli custody.
Through all levels of Palestinian society — from squalid refugee camps in Gaza to wealthy businesses in the West Bank — Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention are celebrated as national heroes. Israel considers Palestinian prisoners accused of involvement in militant attacks or plots as security threats.
Adnan, who was arrested a dozen times and spent some eight years in Israeli prison, became a potent symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s open-ended occupation, now in its 56th year. His use of hunger strikes as a bargaining chip against Israeli authorities — during two other strikes in 2015 and 2018 that lasted 56 and 58 days, respectively — inspired many other desperate Palestinians in administrative detention to go on hunger strikes.
Israel’s prison service said Adnan had been charged with “involvement in terrorist activities” following his February arrest. His death stirred outrage across the territory.
After the news of his death broke, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired 26 rockets at populated areas in southern Israel, sending shrapnel flying. Three foreign workers were wounded at a construction site in the city of Sderot, Israel’s rescue service said, without identifying their nationalities. One of the foreigners, a 25-year-old man, was reported to be in serious condition.
“This is an initial response to this heinous crime,” a coalition of Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups, led by the enclave’s militant Hamas rulers, said. Islamic Jihad spokesperson Dawood Shahab called Adnan’s death “a full-fledged crime.” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh called it an “assassination,” accusing Israel of medical neglect.
Air raid sirens sounded and Israeli municipal councils opened public bomb shelters. Field fires erupted. Shrapnel punched holes into pavement, shattered windows and charred cars. Four rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, authorities said.
The Israeli military responded with tank fire into Gaza and said further retaliation was still being considered. A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations, said that the army assessed that Islamic Jihad fired the rockets with Hamas’ knowledge.
A general strike was announced across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinians flocked to military checkpoints in the occupied territory, slinging stones. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Earlier Tuesday, Palestinian militants in Gaza had fired another three rockets that landed in empty fields in Israel.
As violence surged over the past year and the Israeli military launched near-nightly arrest raids in the West Bank, the number of Palestinians in administrative detention has swelled to over 1,000. Israel says the controversial tactic helps authorities thwart attacks and hold dangerous militants without divulging incriminating material for security reasons.
Palestinians and rights groups say the system is widely abused and denies due process, with the secret nature of the evidence making it impossible for administrative detainees or their lawyers to mount a defense.
Since the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, Israel has jailed thousands of Palestinians. They have long responded with hunger strikes, whether in large groups with hundreds refusing food, or individually, like Adnan, to protest prison conditions, win concessions such as family visits or express resistance to their open-ended detentions.
With prisoners’ shriveled bodies drawing international attention and condemnation, Israeli governments have at times conceded to some of their demands to avoid deaths in custody.
But the current Israeli government, the most right-wing in the country’s history, has vowed to take a hard-line against the Palestinians. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician, has cracked down on prisoners accused of security offenses, shortening shower times and closing prison bakeries.
Ben-Gvir demanded Tuesday that prison officials exhibit “zero-tolerance” and ordered prisoners be confined to their cells.
Rights groups condemned Israeli authorities for Adnan’s death, saying that warnings about his life-threatening condition were ignored. Adnan’s lawyer said he had asked Israeli authorities to move him from his cell to a hospital where his condition could best be monitored.
“We lay the responsibility for his death at the feet of the Israeli authorities,” said Dana Moss from Physicians for Human Rights Israel. “Hunger strikes are one of the few nonviolent tools left to Palestinians as they battle against Israel’s unfair legal system.”
The Israeli prison service said Adnan was in a prison medical facility, but had refused medical treatment “until the last moment” when his legal proceedings moved ahead. It said he was found unconscious in his cell early Tuesday and transferred to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Around 200 people gathered outside Adnan’s home in the occupied West Bank town of Arraba, holding signs bearing his image and calling for revenge. In a rare call for de-escalation, Adnan’s widow, Randa Musa, urged the public not to respond with violence.
“We do not want a single drop of bloodshed” she told the crowd. “We do not want rockets to be fired.”
