Palestinians are calling for a general strike in solidarity with the people of Gaza following an Israeli attack on a safe zone that killed at least 90 people.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are holding a general strike in protest against Israel's war on Gaza, denouncing Saturday's attack on a designated safe zone of al-Mawasi that killed at least 90 people and wounded 300 others.
Most West Bank towns joined the general strike on Sunday against the Israeli airstrike on the refugee camp west of Khan Younis. Palestinians also protested on Saturday night in the cities of Jenin, Hebron and Tubas to condemn the devastating war.
On Sunday morning, local Palestinian social media accounts shared videos showing shops closing in Jenin, the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem and Tulkarem in response to calls for a strike.
#Attention | The price is per person, the price is per person, the price is per person. photo.twitter.com/lOp3VgaPxw
— Palinfo's lawyer (@PalinfoAr) July 14, 2024
Strike in Jenin to denounce occupation massacres in Khan Younis and Shati camp.
Reporting from Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said Palestinians feel this is “the least” they can do “to express solidarity, to feel like they are doing something to support their fellow Palestinians in Gaza who feel helpless,” while at the same time “facing” Israeli incursions imposed on several cities in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
“This reality of occupation and relentless war that is taking place in Gaza, [as well as] “The raids, house demolitions and land confiscation that are happening here in the West Bank are a complete reversal of this expression of solidarity,” Odeh said, adding that apart from sentiment, the attacks are unlikely to have any effect.
Anger at “fractured politics”
In addition to expressing anger over the war in Gaza, Palestinians are also expressing frustration over its fractured politics, Odeh said.
“In Ramallah, for example, Palestinian factions could not agree to join the general strike, while the same factions in other cities agreed to the bare minimum.”
The Gaza Health Ministry reported on Sunday that at least 38,584 Palestinians have been killed and 88,881 wounded in Israel's war on the enclave.
Meanwhile, violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which had been escalating even before Israel launched its war on Gaza in October, has escalated dramatically in recent months. Increased Israeli military raids against Palestinian groups, settlement expansion and violent attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages have prompted a response from Palestinian armed groups in the occupied territory.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society reported on Sunday that Israeli soldiers arrested 30 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over the past two days. Israel has arrested nearly 10,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in almost daily raids.
