Tension flares again in Gaza as Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian man

At least one Palestinian has been killed and five others injured in an Israeli airstrike in besieged Gaza, after hours of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the coastal enclave following the death of a prominent hunger-striking prisoner.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Wednesday that Hashil Mubarak, 58, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City.

His family said he was injured by falling debris and died at the hospital.

The Israeli military claimed it bombed tunnels, arms production sites and military installations belonging to the Hamas group in Gaza.

A tense cease-fire was held hours after Palestinian groups in Gaza and Israel exchanged fire on Tuesday shortly after the death of a Palestinian hunger striker, Khader Adnan, in an Israeli prison.

The death of a Palestinian hunger striker

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) said Adnan, a member of the Islamic Jihad group, was found unconscious and was taken to hospital but attempts to resuscitate him failed.

His death has triggered a storm of condemnations, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh calling it a "deliberate assassination."

Adnan is credited with helping introduce the practice of protracted hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners as a form of protest, primarily against the practice of administrative detention, a measure Israel uses to detain people without charge or trial.

The 44-year-old, from the town of Arraba, west of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, started his hunger strike on February 5 to protest his detention by Israeli authorities.

Adnan was repeatedly detained by Israeli forces and had staged multiple hunger strikes to protest his detention.

In 2012, Adnan staged a 66-day hunger strike in protest of his detention, forcing Israeli authorities to release him. He staged similar hunger strikes in 2015 and 2018.