Palestinians strike in solidarity with Jenin

Palestinians across the occupied territories launched a general strike today to protest against the Israeli occupation army’s invasion of the Jenin Refugee Camp, which resulted in ten deaths and 100 injuries.

According to Wafa news agency, nearly 1,000 soldiers forced Palestinians to leave their homes in Jenin Refugee Camp yesterday after warplanes bombed several sites in the city.

Shops and businesses, including banks, across Palestine remained closed and public transportation services were also suspended as part of the strike.

Palestinian political factions called for the strike and encouraged protests against the Israeli occupation forces at contact points around the occupied territories.

READ: Palestinians strike in solidarity with Jenin

Last night and early this morning, confrontations were reported with soldiers in several areas of the occupied West Bank including in Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem and in Jericho, where a Palestinian was severely injured after he was shot in the leg with a bullet.

Protests against Israeli soldiers also broke out last night at the northern entrance to Ramallah during which soldiers fired tear gas canisters at the protesters, resulting in them suffering from suffocation.

Protests were also reported in several neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Jenin Refugee Camp has been at the heart of an escalation of violence across the occupied West Bank that has triggered mounting alarm from Washington to the Arab world without paving the way for a resumption of political negotiations that have been stalled for almost a decade.

For more than a year, Israeli raids of cities such as Jenin have become a daily occurrence, with rampages by illegal Jewish settler mobs against Palestinian villages increasing in frequency and ferocity.

READ: Israel’s military wreaks havoc in Jenin raid