If Hunger-striker Dies, We Will Respond With Violence: Palestinian Islamic Jihad

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza has warned that if a Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for over four months dies it will respond with violence commensurate with an “assassination” killing by Israel. Hisham Abu Hawash has been held in administrative detention, meaning without official charges, since October 2020, and began a hunger strike some 139 days ago. He recently was taken to an Israeli hospital near Tel Aviv, where he is in critical condition and rumored to be in a coma due to his deteriorating condition. On Saturday, the PIJ said in a statement that Hawash “is being subjected to a process of assassination, of elimination. We will deal with the matter according to our commitment to respond to any criminal assassination by the enemy.” The statement said that “all options are open and on the table.” The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry wants Hawash to be moved to a Palestinian hospital. It is not the first time that a Palestinian faction in Gaza has threatened violence over the condition of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners. The threat came hours after two rockets were fired from Gaza toward Tel Aviv and landed nearby off the Mediterranean coast. The terror groups in Gaza said that the launches were caused by malfunction due to the bad weather conditions. Israel’s military did not accept this excuse and retaliated, hitting in an airstrike late Saturday night, according to the IDF, “a series of targets in a rocket production facility belonging to the Hamas terror group.” The Israeli Army also shelled Hamas targets near the Gaza-Israel border. While Israeli military officials believe that the rockets were in fact fired by Islamic Jihad, it routinely strikes Hamas targets, saying that holds Hamas, as the ruling party in Gaza, is responsible for any attacks coming from the strip.