Israel bombs Gaza after rocket launch, man killed

GAZA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian civilian on Sunday, hospital officials said, and the military described the operation as

retaliation for a cross-border rocket launch.The dead man was a guard in his 50s or 60s at an animal farm east of Gaza City, hospital officials said. His caravan was hit by a missile and his adult son was wounded.The Israeli military released a statement saying its aircraft had struck four targets, including "a terror tunnel and a weapon manufacturing facility" in the north, the vicinity ofGaza City.The air strikes came in response to a short-range rocket that was launched from Gaza on Saturday and wounded an Israeli woman, the statement said. No Palestinian armed faction took credit for the launch.Hamas, Gaza's ruling Islamist movement, has tried to rein in attacks on Israel as it seeks political accommodation with its secular Palestinian rivals. But violence has continued sporadically, often going unclaimed.An Israeli military spokeswoman said she had no immediate information about the casualties from Sunday's air strikes. 

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HRW to Israel: charge or free Palestinian hunger striker

JERUSALEM — An international NGO on Saturday called on Israel to "immediately charge or release" a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for the past 56 days.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Israel should "immediately end its unlawful administrative detention" of Khader Adnan, who has refused food since December 18, and "charge or release him."

Adnan, who was arrested near the northern West Bank city of Jenin on December 17, had served as a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, but Israel has not charged him formally or revealed any evidence against him.

His hunger strike, longer than any Palestinian prisoner before him, according to Palestinian officials, is in protest over what he calls his unjust detention and mistreatment by Israeli authorities.

On Saturday, hundreds of Palestinians held a protest outside the Ofer prison in the West Bank in solidarity with Adnan and hurled rocks at security forces, an Israeli military spokesman said.

The security forces used riot dispersal methods, and activists said 16 protesters were wounded by rubber bullets and tear gas.

In addition, two Israelis and two Palestinians were arrested in a separate rally for Adnan in the West Bank village of Beit Omar, the military and activists said.

Last month, a military court ordered that Adnan be held in administrative detention for four months, although with his condition frail and worsening, he has been held mostly in a string of Israeli hospitals since early January.

Under Israeli military law, a court can order an individual held for up to six months at a time without charge, although the order can be appealed.

On Thursday, he appealed his detention without charge before an Israeli military judge sitting in a special session in hospital, but the court is not expected to rule before Sunday, his lawyer told AFP.

"Israel should end, today, before it?s too late, its almost two-month-long refusal to inform Adnan of any criminal charge or evidence against him," Whitson said.

On Friday, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, called on Israel "to do everything in its power to preserve the health of the prisoner and resolve this case while abiding by all legal obligations under international law."

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Palestinian detainee in Israel on hunger strike for over 50 days

Palestinian leader Khader Adnan, who was detained on Dec. 17 last year by Israel for activities that threaten the Jewish state’s regional security, has been on a hunger strike for over 55 days to protest his arrest.

Adnan who is a West Bank leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iranian backed militant group charged by Israel for killing many of its citizens in suicide bombings and rocket attacks, was then arrested in his home near the West Bank city of Jenin by a group of armed Israeli security personnel.

He began his hunger strike a day after a team of Israeli interrogators subjected him to a process of humiliation, insult and verbal abuse. His wife, Randa Adnan and lawyers told CNN on Saturday, that Adnan continues to be mistreated, suffers under long periods of solitary confinement and abusive interrogation sessions as well as multiple strip searches.

Adnan’s health has deteriorated since December 30, which prompted Israeli prison officials to move him to a hospital facility. Although he has refused treatment from Israeli doctors, he has been allowed to meet with representatives of the Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights, which in a statement expressed “grave concern” about his medical condition, according to CNN. 

It was only this week that his wife was able to visit him in the hospital. She said he resembled a “caveman.” “He appeared dirty and emaciated with long hair, nails and a beard, and he was manacled to his bed with only his left arm free,” she added. Prior to his arrest, Randa said her husband weighed just over 200 pounds. But she found her 33-year-old spouse, now weighing no more than 121 pounds. She told CNN that “it is something beyond description, as there is no sign of life in him ─ this is how I found him.” The nearly two-month protest marks the longest hunger strike in Palestinian history, which is bringing increasing criticism to Israeli’s arrest and detention policies for Palestinians.The Israeli military has said little about why Adnan was arrested, saying his case was being handled “strictly according to the law” with “special attention being given to his humanitarian situation.” The police military has also released short three-sentence statement reading saying, “Khader Adnan was arrested with an administrative warrant for activities that threaten regional security. This warrant was authorized by judicial review. An appeal was filed by the defendant against this decision and is currently under review,” according to CNN.Adnan was arrested under a controversial Israeli military practice known as “administrative detention” that allows Israel to hold detainees until further notice on security grounds. They charge detainees on secret evidence with no trial rights to defend themselves. As of December 2011, Israel held 307 Palestinians as administrative detainees, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, marking a 40 percent increase from a year earlier.While Adnan’s detention draws wider criticism, his hunger strike has prompted growing demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza and encouraged other Palestinian prisoners to take up hunger strikes in support.

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