Israel and Gaza militias agree to a ceasefire after a day of clashes

Israel and Gaza militias held a ceasefire on Wednesday after a day of clashes over the death of Jader Adnan, a well-known Palestinian prisoner who spent 86 days on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment.

Although his widow, Randa Musa, had asked "all the Palestinian resistance groups" not to use weapons, just as her husband had not done in life, the militias from the strip fired a hundred projectiles after the attack. death, early Tuesday morning.

The Israeli army attacked Gaza with tanks and the exchange of fire escalated to culminate in the Israeli aerial bombardment of the strip and the firing of some 70 rockets and mortar shells into Israel.

A 58-year-old Palestinian was killed in the attacks and five were injured, the Ministry of Health said in the strip.

The truce, in force since 4:00 a.m. local time (one hour less in mainland Spain), is being respected, except for the punctual launch of a rocket.

It is "reciprocal and simultaneous" and has been achieved thanks to the mediation of the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar, according to two official Palestinian sources cited by Reuters.

Israel has not confirmed its existence, but its Armed Forces have announced to the population around Gaza that they can carry on with their normal routine and schools are open, in a show of confidence in the strength of the ceasefire.

Israeli bombardment in Gaza, on Tuesday. MOHAMMED SALEM (REUTERS)

This morning, before the truce, Israeli combat planes and helicopters bombarded positions linked to Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs Gaza and that participated in the launch of rockets, as part of a joint strategy.

These were, among other things, training centers for its forces, a weapons warehouse and a tunnel, the army said in a statement.

One of the Palestinian rockets seriously wounded a foreign construction worker in the Israeli town of Sderot on Tuesday.

Unlike in August, when Islamic Jihad had a brief confrontation with Israel in which fifty Palestinians died, the parties seem to have wanted to avoid an escalation of violence: Israel, with specific and localized bombardments, and the Gaza militias, with projectiles only against the border area, and not against more distant and populated places, as they have done in open wars.

A car damaged by a projectile launched from Gaza in the Israeli city of Sderot, on Tuesday. AHMAD GHARABLI (AFP)

The day of clashes -accompanied by demonstrations and a general strike in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem- came less than a month after another episode of tension.

Originating from the assault on the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan, it led to the largest exchange of fire on the Israel-Lebanon border since 2006.

Deaths due to hunger strike

This time, the spark has been the death of Adnan, whose image could be seen in life on posters and murals in the Palestinian territories.

Aged 44, in prison for the twelfth time and awaiting trial since February, he was the first Palestinian since 1992 to die behind bars for a hunger strike, and the only one in an individual action, according to the Association of Palestinian Prisoners.

Six others have lost their lives for the same reason since 1970, mainly due to damage caused by force-feeding, but always within the framework of collective hunger strikes.

This measure of pressure is common among those called by Israel "security prisoners", that is, Palestinians imprisoned for actions related to the conflict.

They are usually released when your health degrades noticeably.

Adnan had spent eight years in Israeli prisons.

The majority, in "administrative detention", a controversial legal tool that allows prolonging the deprivation of liberty for even years without the need to file charges and without the accused, nor his lawyer, knowing what he is accused of.

During those years, Adnan had already gone on at least three other hunger strikes.

On this occasion, he was accused of supporting terrorism, belonging to a terrorist organization and inciting violence, as a member of Islamic Jihad, in which he participated in non-armed political activities.

Considered a terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union, Islamic Jihad has more weight in Gaza than in the West Bank, and is one of the most combative organizations thanks to the weapons and financing it receives from Iran.

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