RAMALLAH: Shops, offices and schools were closed across the occupied West Bank on Thursday as Palestinians went on strike to protest the Zionist entity's killing of a Palestinian man. Udai Tamimi, who had been on the run since a fatal shooting this month of military policewoman Noa Lazar at a checkpoint in Zionist-annexed east Jerusalem, was killed late Wednesday after he fired at Zionists on the edge of a settlement.

With the West Bank largely shut down, the Palestinian health ministry also confirmed that Mohammad Fadi Nuri, 16, died from a gunshot wound sustained during clashes with Zionist forces near Ramallah last month. Omar Abed Al-Latif Omar, a resident of the West Bank city of Tulkarem, told AFP the strike was intended as "a message" of solidarity with Tamimi.

AFP journalists also saw shuttered shops in the West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Nablus, as well as Jerusalem's Old City. Violence in the Zionist-Palestinian conflict has surged in recent months, amid near daily West Bank raids by Zionist forces and an uptick in attacks on troops.

More than 100 Palestinian fighters and civilians have been killed since the start of the year, the heaviest toll in the West Bank for nearly seven years, according to the United Nations. Tamimi was killed by a security guard after wounding another when he fired at the entrance to Maale Adumim, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Zionist police said.

The 10-day pursuit of Tamimi had resulted in closures affecting schools, health centers and other services in the camp that is home to thousands, and clashes between Zionist forces and Palestinians. While on the run, he acquired folk hero status among some Palestinians, including young men who shaved their heads to mimic his look. - AFP