Palestinian Islamic Jihad has announced a truce in the Gaza Strip after it traded fire with Israel following the death of hunger striker Adnan Khader in Israeli custody.
Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations intervened to broker a return to calm from 4am (01:00 GMT), sources in Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Palestinian officials said.
The Israeli army announced a “complete return to routine” on Wednesday in areas near Gaza.
Earlier, Israeli jets had struck Gaza as armed groups there fired rockets towards Israel in response to the death of Adnan, a prominent political leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He died after an 87-day hunger strike in an Israeli prison.
Ahead of the truce, Israeli warplanes launched multiple raids on areas across Gaza, including Al-Safina, Al-Baydar and empty land near the Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood.
A Palestinian man, Hashel Mubarak Salman Mubarak, 58, was killed and five people were wounded in the Israeli strikes, the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday.
Adnan, who was awaiting trial, was found unconscious in his cell and taken to a hospital where he was declared dead after failed efforts to revive him, Israel’s Prisons Service said. He was the first Palestinian hunger striker to die in Israeli custody in more than 30 years.
About 100 rockets were fired by armed groups from Gaza towards Israel, according to Islamic Jihad. In response, the Israeli army said it carried out a number of air strikes on Gaza targeting “weapons manufacturing sites, outposts, military complexes and an underground terror tunnel” belonging to Hamas.
The Israeli army said the last warning sirens sounded near the territory of Gaza at 5:30am (02:30 GMT).
“One round of confrontation has ended, but the march of resistance continues and will not stop,” Tariq Salmi, a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad, said in a statement. “Our brave fighters have proven their loyalty and commitment to defending their people.”
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh demanded that Israel immediately return Adnan’s body to his family.
“We stress – and as we have informed all the mediators who intervened – the necessity of handing over the body of the martyr Khader Adnan to his patient family,” Haniyeh said in a statement.
A string of high-profile hunger strikes during at least 13 stints in Israeli custody had turned Adnan into a national hero and revitalised hunger striking as a form of protest among Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Ajezeera
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