A prominent figure in Tunisia's Salafist movement, Mohammed Bakhti, died on Saturday after going on hunger strike over his arrest for an attack on the U.S. embassy, in the second such death this week, his lawyer said.

"He died in hospital at around 2 am (0100 GMT)," said Abdelbasset Ben Mbarek, noting that his death followed that of another member of the hardline Islamist movement, Bechir Gholli, who died on Thursday also after refusing food for nearly two months.

Mohamed Bakhti, a prominent figure in Tunisia's Salafist movement, died on Saturday, nearly two months after launching a hunger strike following his arrest for an attack on the U.S. embassy, his lawyer said.

"He died in hospital at around 2:00 am overnight," said Abdelbasset Ben Mbarek, noting that his death came after another member of the Islamist movement, Bechir Gholli, died on Thursday also after refusing food for nearly two months.

Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem crossed into Gaza on Saturday for a solidarity visit, a Hamas spokesman said, as Israeli air strikes pounded the Palestinian enclave.

"The Tunisian delegation led by Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem has arrived in Gaza and is en route to the headquarters of the government destroyed by the occupation this morning, where he will meet with government officials," Interior Ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan told AFP.

Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem will visit Gaza on Saturday, the presidency said, in a statement denouncing Israel's "barbaric aggression" on the Palestinian enclave.

"The presidency of the republic has informed the president of the government in Gaza that a high-level delegation headed by the foreign minister and including the (Tunisian) president's chief of staff will be sent to Gaza tomorrow," it said.

Hundreds of Tunisians demonstrated on Thursday against Israel's deadly attacks on Gaza, as Israeli planes pounded armed groups in the Palestinian territory for a second day, an AFP journalist reported.

Several hundred protesters, gathered on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the center of Tunis, shouted slogans such as "No to reconciliation," and "The people want to criminalize normalized relations with the (Zionist) entity."

Eight people have been arrested over the death of an opposition party official last month during a protest by supporters of Tunisia's ruling Islamists that turned violent, his family said on Monday.

"They arrested eight people yesterday (Sunday)," said Fethi Naguedh, the brother-in-law of Lotfi Naguedh, who represented the Call of Tunisia party in the southern town of Tataouine, where the violence took place.

A Salafist imam has declared war on Tunisia's Islamist ruling party during a television talk show, with the interior minister countering that such talk was responsible for blood being shed.

"I am going to make war on these people because the interior minister and the leaders of Ennahda have chosen the United States as their god -- it is the Americans who are writing the laws and the new constitution," Nasreddine Aloui said in a Thursday night appearance by video link on Ettounsiya television.

Hundreds of officers from several Tunisian security forces demonstrated on Thursday against attacks on them, particularly by Salafists, and protested at the lack of resources to protect themselves.

Police, national guard, civil defense and the presidential guard officers protested for an hour in front of the interior ministry, an Agence France Presse reporter said.

Tunisia's security forces union called on its members to wear red armbands for three days starting Monday, in protest against a suspected Islamist attack on a police officer.

Wissam Ben Slimane, the security chief of the Tunis suburb Manouba, told state television he was attacked by a hatchet-wielding assailant overnight Saturday to Sunday.

An opposition party coordinator in the southern town of Tataouine died Thursday as his supporters clashed with those of the Islamist-led government, his Call of Tunisia party and the interior ministry said.

A party official told Agence France Presse that Lotfi Naguedh died after being beaten by pro-government demonstrators who attacked his office.