Star Metro - Palestinians in West Bank strike to demand end to 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 Israel 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".

Israel 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 Israel restarted its military offensive.

Imad Salman, 68, who owns a souvenir shop in Jerusalem's Old City, said the closure is for "our family in Gaza, our children in Gaza."

He told AFP: "In Jerusalem, in the West Bank, we can't do something more than what we're doing here now."

In Israeli-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, (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, the Israeli government, or the American government," said Ahmed, who did not want to his surname.

"This war must stop, the killing and destruction must stop, and only peace should prevail -- peace, and nothing but peace."

- 'Stop the massacres' -

A rally was planned Monday in the centre 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 Israeli aggression now affects all Palestinian households, whether in the West Bank or Gaza," said Issam Baker, a community organiser in Ramallah.

"We have seen total commitment in support of the strike today throughout the West Bank, which has not happened since October 7" 2023, when the Gaza war started, said a security source from the Palestinian Authority which has partial administrative control in the territory.

Since the start of the Gaza war, violence has soared in the West Bank.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 918 Palestinians, including militants, in the territory since then, according to health ministry figures.

Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 33 Israelis, including soldiers, over the same period, according to official figures.

Protests also erupted in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Monday in front of the Lebanese American University, with dozens of students gathering around a massive Palestinian flag.

In Sidon in southern Lebanon, hundreds demonstrated, shouting "stop the massacres against the Palestinian people" and "stop the war of extermination in Gaza".

In the Tunisian capital as well, hundreds of students demonstrated in front of the French embassy to express solidarity with Palestinians, as French President Emmanuel Macron visited Cairo to discuss Gaza.

bur-he-crb-acc/jsa/it

G.Boudreau--SMC