Israel launches airstrikes across Gaza Strip after hunger strike death

Columns of smoke rose into the night sky as Israeli jets struck targets including training camps of Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Mediterranean coastal strip - one of two territories that, along with the West Bank, make up the Palestinian state.

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on May 2, 2023. Photo: Reuters

At the same time, sirens sounded near the southern Israeli town of Sderot and other areas around the Gaza Strip. Hamas radio also reported that militants continued to shell Israeli targets.

The fighting, about a month after the most recent cross-border firefight between Israel and Gaza, followed the death of Khader Adnan, a senior member of the Islamic Jihad group, who died after 87 days on hunger strike.

Adnan, who was awaiting trial in Israel, was found unconscious in his cell and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead after resuscitation efforts, according to the Israel Prison Service. Adnan is the first Palestinian hunger striker to die in an Israeli prison in more than 30 years.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to praise Adnan and mourn his death, which Palestinian leaders described as an assassination.

In Gaza, a group of Palestinian armed factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for a series of rocket attacks against Israel.

The Israeli military said at least 26 rockets were fired from Gaza. Two landed in Sderot, wounding three people, including a 25-year-old foreign national who Israeli officials said was seriously injured by shrapnel.

Palestinians protest against the death of Khader Adnan in the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2023. Photo: Reuters

In the West Bank city of Hebron, many working-class people held a general strike. Some protesters burned tires and threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets in response.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with security officials to assess the situation. An Israel Defense Forces official said Israel would respond at a time and place of its choosing.

Since 2011, activist Adnan has gone on at least three hunger strikes to protest Israel’s detention without charge. The tactic has been used by other Palestinian prisoners, sometimes en masse, but none have died since 1992.

Adnan, 45, was a baker and father of nine in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He was one of the group's political leaders, said Jihad, which has a limited presence in the West Bank but is the second-most powerful militant group in the Gaza Strip after Hamas.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters, AJ)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/gaza-ban-rocket-sau-cai-chet-cua-tu-nhan-tuyet-thuc-israel-khong-kich-dap-tra-post246112.html