Israel attacked Gaza in response to missile launches by Palestinian terrorists

Israeli planes hit targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in response to rocket attacks fired earlier in the day after the death of a Palestinian hunger striker in Israeli custody.

Plumes of smoke spiraled into the night sky after the planes hit targets, including training grounds for Hamashe terrorist group which controls the coastal enclave.

At the same time, sirens sounded near the southern Israeli city of Sderot and in other areas around Gaza as Hamas radio reported that militant factions were continuing to shell Israeli targets.

Clashes, about a month after the last cross-border exchange of fire between Israel and Gazafollowed the death of Khader Adnan, a senior member of the Islamic Jihad group, who passed away after 87 days on hunger strike.

Adnan, who was awaiting trial, was found unconscious in his cell and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead after efforts to revive him, the Israel Prison Service said.

He 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 demonstrate in support of Adnan and mourn his death.

In Gaza, a group that brings together terrorist factions, including Hamas and the Islamic Jihadclaimed responsibility for a series of rocket attacks on Israel during the day.

The Israeli army said that at least 26 rockets from Gaza. Two shells fell on sderot and wounded three people, including a 25-year-old foreigner who, according to the Israel ambulance service, suffered serious shrapnel injuries.

In the West Bank city of hebron, the stores were on a general strike. Some protesters burned tires and threw rocks at Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at them. There were no reports of injuries.

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

Since 2011, Adnan had gone on at least three hunger strikes to protest Israeli detention without charge. The practice has been used by other Palestinian prisoners, sometimes in groups, but none had died since 1992.

Islamic Jihad sources said Adnan, 45, was one of its political leaders. The faction has a limited presence in Judea and Samaria but is the second most powerful armed group in Gaza, where Israeli forces fought a brief war against it in August.

(With information from Reuters)

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