Maysara Abu Hamdiya, 64, a retired general in the Palestinian Authority security services, died in a hospital in southern Israel two months after receiving a diagnosis of throat cancer. Mr. Hamdiya was detained by Israel in 2002, at the height of the second Palestinian uprising, and was serving a life term for attempted murder after sending a suicide bomber to a cafe in Jerusalem, Israeli officials said. The bomb failed to detonate.

Mr. Hamdiya's death came amid efforts by the Western-backed Palestinian leadership to place the prisoner issue high on the diplomatic agenda, with the Obama administration calling for a renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Emotions over the prisoner issue have been running high among the Palestinian public in recent months, leading to protests in support of prisoners on hunger strikes and over the death of a prisoner in February under disputed circumstances.

The Palestinian Authority said Mr. Hamdiya had been suffering severe throat pain since August. In the days and weeks leading up to his death, Palestinian representatives blamed Israel for procrastinating in his diagnosis and treatment as they pressed for his early release.

Sivan Weizman, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prison Service, said that Mr. Hamdiya had been under medical supervision and that a committee would examine the circumstances of his death, as in all cases of prisoners dying in custody. Ms. Weizman added that the prison service had applied to a parole board for an early release for Mr. Hamdiya about a week ago, once it was clear that his illness was terminal.

The office of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said in a statement that it held the Israeli government "fully responsible" for Mr. Hamdiya's death, which it said stemmed from a policy of "deliberate medical negligence."

Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the authority, also accused the Israeli prison authorities of a "policy of medical negligence," saying in a statement that the delay in treating Mr. Hamdiya "was a primary reason for his martyrdom." He called for international monitoring of the conditions inside Israel's prisons.

Prisoners in Israeli custody hold an honored place in Palestinian society, with many Palestinians regarding even compatriots convicted of deadly terrorist acts as political prisoners and fighters for the Palestinian cause.

With news of Mr. Hamdiya's death, Palestinian prisoners in several Israeli jails erupted in anger, banging on cell doors and throwing objects, Ms. Weizman said. Tear gas was used to quell unrest in one prison, though calm was restored by the afternoon.

Rioting also broke out in East Jerusalem and in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Mr. Hamdiya's hometown, where many stores closed in protest on Tuesday and a public hall was opened to receive mourners.

Also on Tuesday, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a rocket into southern Israel and Israel carried out an airstrike, its first since a cease-fire that ended eight days of fierce cross-border fighting in November.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed there had been a strike in Gaza, Reuters reported, but gave no further details. The Hamas Interior Ministry said that Israeli planes bombed "an open area in northern Gaza" and that there were no casualties, Reuters said.

The rocket caused no damage or injury but was the latest violation of the cease-fire from the Gaza side. The Israeli military reported two launchings from Gaza earlier Tuesday, but those rockets apparently fell short and did not reach Israeli territory.

Several rockets crashed into southern Israel during President Obama's visit last month, prompting Israel to temporarily close a commercial goods crossing into Gaza and to limit Gaza fishermen to a zone of three nautical miles off the coast. Israel had agreed to extend the zone to six nautical miles under the terms of its Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.

Nayef Hashlamoun contributed reporting from Hebron, West Bank.