The Israeli military says it has sentenced a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group to 22 months in prison after his arrest helped spark three days of heavy fighting in Gaza last year. Bassam al-Saadi’s sentence was handed down Tuesday as part of a plea deal, the army said in a statement, adding that he had been convicted for illegal association, incitement and impersonation. Al-Saadi, the statement said, worked with other suspects to advance the group’s activities “within its student wing” by receiving funding from an Islamic Jihad operative in Gaza. He was arrested in August during a nighttime raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. Islamic Jihad had demanded the release of Bassam al-Saadi, then 62.
