Israeli airstrikes kill one in Gaza as situation remains uncertain following hunger striker’s death
Jerusalem24 – Nadeen Alshaer and Noelle Mafarjeh – A Palestinian man was killed and five others injured when Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday night, after Palestinian factions fired rockets into Israel following news of prominent Palestinian political prisoner and hunger striker Khader Adnan’s death in Israeli custody.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Wednesday morning that 58-year-old Hashel Mubarak Salman Mubarak had succumbed to wounds sustained during the overnight aggression.
Three foreign workers were moderately and lightly injured by shrapnel when a rocket fell at a construction site in the southern Israeli city of Sderot.
Adnan’s family publicly rejected on Tuesday morning any calls for vengeance: “We do not want bloodshed, we do not want missiles to be fired.”
However, by Wednesday morning, the Israeli military said over 100 rockets had been fired from Gaza in the last 24 hours, with most landing in open areas and 24 being intercepted by the Iron Dome.
The military said it first responded to the rocket strikes with tank fire, before conducting air strikes late on Tuesday night. An agreement on a ceasefire went into effect at 3:30 AM after efforts made by Egypt, Qatar, and United Nations officials to calm the tension.
Palestinian sources said Egypt is making efforts to pressure Israel into releasing Adnan’s body to his family, instead of withholding his remains as is common Israeli practice.
Anger at a Palestinian icon’s death
The 44-year-old father of nine is the first Palestinian hunger striker to have died in Israeli custody since 1992. He was a inspiration to Palestinian political prisoners, having been detained by Israel without charge or trial over a dozen times and successfully securing his release after five separate hunger strikes between 2004 and 2021.
His death provoked the anger of the Palestinian public, prisoners, and factions, with confrontations erupting across the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, and all Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza implementing a full strike. Demonstrations also took place inside Israel.
Haaretz reported that the head of Israel’s Prison Services ordered prisons to remain on high alert, “fearing the spread of prison riots in light of Adnan’s death could have widespread implications”.
In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority seemingly also worried about an outburst of anger, and suppressed a march in support of Adnan in the city of Jenin on Tuesday evening. Government buildings in the city were targeted by heavy gunfire following the incident.
“Not enough deaths in Gaza”
An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel’s Iron Dome system intercepted 90% of the rockets heading for populated areas (down from 97% last year) and would be investigating how two rockets fell on Sderot.
Israel had launched 16 air strikes on the Strip by Wednesday morning, in addition to initial tank fire.
In Jerusalem, far-right extremist and Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, backed by his Jewish Power party, announced the party would boycott the Knesset’s Wednesday voting session because the Israeli strikes on Gaza weren’t severe enough. Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party holds six seats in the Knesset, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition with a weakened majority of 58 to 56 during today’s votes.
Jewish Power faction coordinator Yizhak Kroyzer also demanded that Israel not return Adnan’s body to his family until the return of the bodies of Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin who were killed during Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza – despite the return of Adnan’s remains being a key condition for the current ceasefire with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Criticism of the “lax response” also came from within Netanyahu’s own Likud party, with Likud lawmaker and former UN ambassador Danny Danon saying: “To restore deterrence, we should have got up this morning and heard how many terrorists were decisively eliminated last night.”
The Israeli public also appeared dissatisfied with the breadth of the response, with Sderot residents planning a protest on Wednesday evening, according to Israel’s Channel 13.
“I am in a state of embarrassment and do not understand my government that adopts a policy of granting immunity to terrorists and burying its head in the sand,” Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi told Israeli Radio 103FM. “Netanyahu is making a serious mistake.”
Who’s avoiding an escalation?
Haaretz military analyst Amos Harel notes that “quite a bit of effort is being invested so that the death of Adnan, who is now a Palestinian martyr, will not lead to a long eruption in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”
While Israel is clearly aware that Khader Adnan’s death could spark a wider wave of confrontations, it didn’t postpone its usual military operations across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday night, including the punitive demolition of the family homes of two Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks against Israelis.
Israel systematically demolishes the family homes of Palestinian attackers in what human rights NGOs describe as “collective punishment” in breach of international law.
The army bulldozed the family home of Younis Hailan in the village of Hajjah east of Qalqilya before dawn today. Hailan is currently imprisoned by Israel, accused of stabbing an Israeli settler who later died, in October last year.
In the village of Hares near Salfit, the military blew up the family home of Mohammad Souf, who was shot and killed after stabbing three Israeli settlers to death near the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel near Salfit in November.
