The strike was organized by Palestinian national and Islamic groups, labor unions, and civil society organizations in solidarity with the people of Gaza, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Universities, banks, businesses, factories and public transportation companies all participated in the strike throughout the main cities of the West Bank, including Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, and Qalqilya.
Essam Abu Baker, who coordinates Palestinian factions in Ramallah, described the protest as part of a global effort to put pressure on Israel to stop the war. “The strike today is not only in solidarity with Gaza, but also against the USA which used its veto in the Security Council against a truce,” he said, referring to the US veto on Friday.
In Ramallah, marchers held a long placard with the names of the Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the war – which currently number around 18,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The figure cannot be independently verified and is believed to include some 7,000 Hamas terrorists, as well as civilians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets. READ MORE