The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (YIP) faction announced a truce on Wednesday after a night of intense firefights between armed Palestinian militias from the Gaza Strip, which fired 104 rockets, and the Israeli army, which carried out airstrikes. , in an escalation of violence caused by the death Jader Adnan, a political leader linked to the Islamist organization who died yesterday after an 86-day hunger strike in an Israeli prison.
Egypt, one of the traditional mediators during the clashes between the Palestinian organizations and Israel, as well as three Palestinian officials, corroborated the information to the news agencies, although Israel did not immediately confirm it. “We managed to establish a truce and both parties responded from this (Wednesday) morning,” the Egyptian security source told France Presse. Qatar and the UN also intervened to establish a return to calm, starting at 04:00 local time, according to confirmed sources from the YIP, with a strong presence in the Strip, and Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs de facto the enclave.
However, the last rocket warning sirens sounded in Israeli towns near the Strip at around 5:30 a.m., according to the Israeli army. An information confirmed by witnesses in Gaza, who observed the firing of several rockets. In the last 24 hours, Palestinian militias fired 104 projectiles, some of which landed in the Israeli city of Sderot, injuring three people, the army and emergency services reported. Israel, for its part, responded with two rounds of shelling on Hamas military targets in the strip, territory under Israeli blockade since the Hamas Islamist takeover in 2007.
“This cycle of confrontation has ended, but the resistance march continues and will not stop,” Islamic Jihad spokesman Tariq Salmi said in a statement. “We emphasize, as we have told all the mediators who intervened , in the need to hand over the body of the martyr Jader Adnan to his family,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement.
Originally from the occupied West Bank, Jader Adnan began his last hunger strike at the start of his imprisonment, on February 5, and on Tuesday became the first Palestinian detainee to succumb to it in three decades, at the age of 45. He had been accused of politically supporting Islamic Jihad, a “hostile organization” and “terrorist” according to Israel, the US and the EU. The YIP has a limited presence in the West Bank, but it is the second most powerful armed group in Gaza, where Israeli forces fought a brief war against it last August.
After spending twelve times in Israeli prisons, the baker and father of nine children had become a symbol of resistance for the at least five hunger strikes he carried out against the detentions without charge or trial practiced by Israel. The military court of appeals rejected his request for his release. The judges also denied his hospitalization outside the prison, where the prisoner had established some conditions, which were not met, to agree to be treated.
From the family home in the northern West Bank city of Arraba, near Jenin, Adnan’s wife, Randa Moussa, told a crowd of neighbors and relatives yesterday that she did not want her husband’s death to be used to escalate violence. “Our message to all the resistance groups is that we do not want the weapons. They were not used to free the Sheikh (Adnan) and they will not be used after his death. We do not want a drop of blood to be shed,” she said.
The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, yesterday expressed his concern about the outbreak of violence during his first meeting with the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, in Brussels. He stressed the EU’s commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself, but recalled that “any response must be proportionate and in accordance with international law,” his spokeswoman said. He also requested an investigation into the prisoner’s death.
In August 2022, three days of clashes between Israel and Islamic Jihad left 49 Palestinians dead, including 12 Islamic Jihad members according to the movement, and at least 19 children according to the UN. The YIP fired some 200 rockets from Gaza into Israel, wounding three people.
