Rocket fire from Gaza after Palestinian hunger striker dies: AFP

Palestinian militants fired rockets from the Gaza Strip Tuesday, an AFP journalist witnessed, following the death in Israeli custody of a leading figure in the Islamic Jihad group who was on hunger strike.

The Israeli military in a statement said “sirens sounded in the area of kibbutz Saad” close to the Gaza border, warning of incoming fire.

The rocket launches follow the death of Khader Adnan who was a leading figure in the occupied West Bank within the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Israel’s prison service said “a national security detainee... (who) began a hunger strike on 5.2.23, died this morning.”

Islamic Jihad confirmed the death of “hero” Adnan in a statement.

He was arrested by Israeli forces at his home near the West Bank city of Jenin on 5 February, according to previous comments from the militant group.

Last week, Adnan’s wife Randa Mousa told AFP said he was being held in the clinic at Ramla prison in central Israel.

“(He is) refusing any support, refusing medical examinations, he is in a cell with very difficult detention conditions,” she said.

“They (Israel) have refused to transfer him to a civilian hospital, they refused to allow his lawyer a visit,” she added.

A medic from the group Physicians for Human Rights Israel visited Adnan in prison earlier this week and warned that he “faces imminent death”, while calling for him to be “urgently transferred to a hospital.”

The group said Adnan “struggles to move and maintain a basic conversation, appearing pale, weak, exhausted and dangerously emaciated,” according to a statement released Monday.