Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are observing 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 injured some 300 others.
Most cities in the West Bank joined the general strike on Sunday against Israel’s air attack 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.
Local Palestinian social media accounts shared videos on Sunday morning showing shops closing in Jenin, the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, and Tulkarem in response to calls for the strike.
#شاهد | إضراب في مدينة جنين تنديدا بمجزرتي الاحتلال في خانيونس ومخيم الشاطئ. pic.twitter.com/lOp3VgaPxw
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) July 14, 2024
Translation: A strike in the city of Jenin to denounce the occupation massacres in Khan Younis and the Shati camp.
Reporting from Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said Palestinians feel that this is “the bare minimum” they can do “to express solidarity, to feel that they are doing something to stand by their fellow Palestinians in Gaza as they feel helpless”, while at the same time “confronting” Israeli raids imposed on several cities in occupied West Bank since October 7.
“That reality of occupation and relentless war happening in Gaza, [as well as] raids and home demolitions and confiscation of land happening here in the West Bank is coming full-circle in this expression of solidarity,” said Odeh, adding that apart from the sentiment, the strikes are unlikely to have any effect.
Anger against ‘fractured politics’
In addition to voicing their anger over the war on Gaza, Palestinians are also expressing frustration with their fractured politics, said Odeh.
“In Ramallah, for example, the Palestine factions were unable to agree to join the general strike, while the same factions in other cities agreed on that bare minimum.”
Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported on Sunday that at least 38,584 Palestinians have been killed and 88,881 have been injured in Israel’s war on the enclave.
Meanwhile, violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which had been escalating even before Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, has intensified dramatically in the past months. An increase in Israeli military raids on Palestinian groups, expansion of settlements and violent attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages have drawn response from Palestinian armed groups in the occupied territory.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society reported on Sunday that Israeli soldiers arrested 30 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank over the past two days. Israel has arrested nearly 10,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in near-daily raids.
