Khader Adnan, a prominent Palestinian prisoner who was on hunger strike for 87 days in an Israeli prison to protest his detention, died early Tuesday amid heightened violence in the occupied West Bank, according to his lawyer and Palestinian and Israeli officials.
Palestinian leaders and armed groups vowed retaliation, saying Israel was responsible for the death of Mr Adnan, the first Palestinian prisoner to die on a hunger strike since 1992.
A barrage of more than 20 rockets was launched into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon, seriously injuring a Chinese construction worker in the town of Sderot, according to Israeli media.
A joint statement by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza claimed responsibility for the rockets “as a first response to this heinous crime that will provoke reactions from our people in all arenas and places of engagement.”
Islamic Jihad identified him as an old leader and called for retaliation against Israel. Hamas, another armed group, also promised retaliation.
Israel fired tank shells at border observation points in Gaza. There were no injuries.
Late Tuesday night, Israel launched a series of airstrikes against at least four areas in the Gaza Strip that Palestinian news media said belonged to armed groups. Earlier in the day, the groups had evacuated their offices and bases in anticipation of counter-attacks, and there were no preliminary reports of injuries.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also said it held Israel responsible for Mr Adnan’s death, called for an international investigation and said it intended to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused Israel of “deliberate murder” by not releasing Mr Adnan and not giving him proper treatment.
Mr Adnan, 44, was arrested by Israel on February 5 on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization, support for terrorism and incitement as a member of the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad. He has been on hunger strike since his arrest.
Mr Adnan was being held at the Israel Prison Service medical center when he was found unconscious in his cell on Tuesday, prison authorities said. He received cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was then taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
In a statement on Monday, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, a non-governmental group of doctors examining Mr Adnan, had warned that his death was “imminent” and called for him to be taken to a hospital. But an appeals court had ruled that there was no evidence that Mr Adnan was in an urgent medical condition.
Hana Herbst, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prison Service, said Mr. Adnan had been taken to a hospital several times, but each time refused medical treatment and was returned to the Israeli prison medical center.
“He decided to go on a hunger strike and he refused any medical examination and treatment,” Ms Herbst said. “There was nothing we could have done but force him to undergo medical treatment, which we cannot do.”
However, the doctors’ group said in the statement that Mr Adnan wanted to be hospitalized and set three conditions for undergoing medical examinations, including permission to visit his family, be accompanied by a doctor from the rights group and that his medical information would be not be shared with the Israeli Prison Service.
During Mr Adnan’s final court hearing on Thursday, which he attended remotely from his bed, the military judge rejected a third appeal for his provisional release citing his deteriorating medical condition, according to court documents.
In his rejection of the appeal, a military judge, Lieutenant Colonel Menachem Lieberman, said Mr Adnan “fully understands his actions and where they will lead him. He is in charge of his own body.”
Mr Lieberman said he had not obtained a medical opinion that Mr Adnan’s life was in imminent danger, according to court documents.
Dr. Lina Qasem-Hassan, specialist in family medicine and chairwoman of the doctors’ group, visited Mr. Adnan on April 23 and said he was having trouble moving and having basic conversation. His limbs were atrophied and he was dangerously emaciated, weighing less than 125 pounds, according to its assessment, the group said in its statement.
In its statement, the group of doctors has been urging for weeks for his transfer to a hospital on the basis of urgent medical reasons.
“According to medical-ethical principles, Adnan’s requests are reasonable,” Anat Litvin, the director of the group’s prisoner and detainee division, said in the statement Monday. “There is no reason to deny them other than the desire to punish him and end his strike. This is a clear power struggle between the security authorities and the hunger striker.”
Mr. Adnan, a baker and a married father of nine who lived in the town of Arraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had been imprisoned by Israel 10 times, often under administrative detention. He had also been imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority at least twice, including in 2000 when he went on his first hunger strike.
In an interview with The New York Times last year, Mr. Adnan hunger strikes as a crucial weapon in the resistance against the Israeli occupation. He pioneered the practice of individual hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners, conducting a 66-day strike in 2011 that inspired others to use it as a means of protesting Israel’s detention of Palestinians, particularly the practice of administrative detention, which Israel uses to hold indefinitely. detain people without charge or trial, on the basis of classified evidence.
During his many hunger strikes, Mr. Adnan took an approach that he said in the interview with The Times was aimed at exerting maximum pressure on Israel and demonstrating his full commitment to bringing the strike to an end, including refusing to take supplements or sugar water. He said he believed that allowing medical examinations indicated a prisoner feared for his life and unwillingness to carry out the hunger strike.
“It’s not an easy act, maybe the prisoner survives and maybe the prisoner doesn’t,” he said. “We are not going on a hunger strike to be tortured, but we are willing to be tortured if it happens.”
Hiba Yazbek contributed reporting from Jerusalem, Gabby Sobelman from Rehovot, Israel, and Ameera Harouda from Gaza City.