ShareRAMALLAH, Palestine: Shuttered storefronts lined empty streets in Zionist entity-annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Monday, as Palestinians held a general strike demanding an end to the Gaza war. "I walked through the city today and couldn't find a single place that was open," Fadi Saadi, a shopkeeper in Bethlehem, told AFP.
Shops, schools and most public administrative offices were closed across the West Bank, which the Zionist entity has occupied since 1967. A coalition of Palestinian political movements — including rivals Fatah and Hamas — called the strike to protest what they described as "the genocide and the ongoing massacre of our people". It called for the strike "in all the occupied Palestinian territories, in the refugee camps ... and among those who support our cause".
The Zionist entity resumed air strikes on Gaza on March 18, ending nearly two months of ceasefire with Hamas. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed almost daily since the entity restarted its military offensive. "We close today about our family in Gaza, our children in Gaza," said Imad Salman, 68, who owns a souvenir shop in Jerusalem's Old City. "In Jerusalem, in the West Bank, we can't do something more than what we're doing here now," he told AFP.
In Zionist entity-annexed east Jerusalem, the usually bustling commercial Salaheddin street was empty. "This strike is in solidarity with Gaza and what is happening there, and the war being waged against the Palestinian people, whether by (US President Donald) Trump, (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, the (Zionist entity's) government, or the American government," said Ahmed, who did not want AFP to use his surname. "This war must stop, the killing and destruction must stop, and only peace should prevail — peace, and nothing but peace."
A rally was planned Monday in the center of the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority has its headquarters. "This time, the strike is serious, and the population's commitment is significant because (Zionist) aggression now affects all Palestinian households, whether in the West Bank or Gaza," said Issam Baker, a community organizer in Ramallah.
"We have seen total commitment in support of the strike today throughout the West Bank, which has not happened since October 7," said a security source from the Palestinian Authority. Since the start of the Gaza war, Zionist entity troops or settlers have killed at least 918 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry's figures. Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 33 citizens of the Zionist entity, including soldiers, over the same period, according to official figures. — AFP
