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Palestinian Khader Adnan dies in Israeli jail after 87-day hunger strike

Rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip after Palestinian Khader Adnan died on hunger strike in Israel's Nitzan prison.
A Palestinian man rides his bike past a mural depicting Khader Adnan, a Palestinian hunger striker and top figure in the Islamic Jihad group in the occupied West Bank, in Gaza City on May 2,2023. - Khader Adnan began a hunger strike on February 5, 23, died on May 2, 2023, the prison service said in a statement, adding that he was "affiliated with the Islamic Jihad". (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, 45, died in Israeli custody on Tuesday after an 87-day hunger strike. 

Adnan, a member of the Islamic Jihad, was found unconscious in his cell in the central Israeli Nitzan prison before dawn on Tuesday. He was transported to the Shamir Medical Center near Tel Aviv, but efforts to resuscitate him failed. He was declared dead at the hospital, said the Israel Prisons Service.

After the announcement of his death, a siren was heard at Kibbutz Sa’ad, near the border in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said that three rockets were fired from the Strip, all falling in open spaces and without any injuries. Israel fired at targets in Gaza in retaliation, the army said. 

The Islamic Jihad movement issued a defiant statement on Tuesday. It read, “Our fight is continuing and the enemy will realize once again that its crimes will not pass without a response. Resistance will continue by all might and determination.”

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