General strike launched in occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem after deadly Israeli raid in Nablus

General strike launched in occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem after deadly Israeli raid in Nablus
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, launched a general strike after an Israeli army raid in Nablus killed 11 Palestinians. Businesses, public transport and schools heeded the call and closed their doors.
2 min read
Jerusalem
23 February, 2023
A Palestinian woman walks by closed shops near Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem as Palestinians marked a general strike following Wednesday's Israel's deadly in Nablus that killed 11 Palestinians, on 23 February 2023. [Ibrahim Husseini/TNA]

A general strike was observed in occupied East Jerusalem Thursday following Israel's deadly raid on Nablus, which killed at least 11 Palestinians and wounded dozens. 

Shops and schools shut their doors across various parts of the city as some pedestrians walked in largely empty streets. 

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli police reported that security guards at the Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, near East Jerusalem, shot a Palestinian woman after she approached the settlement's entrance "armed with a knife."

The woman's condition was not immediately known. 

General strike Ramallah
Businesses in Ramallah closed on Thursday as part of a commercial general strike across the occupied West Bank, in protest against the killing of 11 Palestinians by Israeli forces in Nablus on Wednesday.
​​​​​​[Qassam Muaddi /TNA]

The strike was also marked in other cities in the occupied West Bank, including Ramallah, where the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority is seated. 

The strike action brought to a halt public transport and services in the West Bank. Businesses, schools and universities were also shut down. 

Following the attack in Nablus, the PLO secretary general, Hussein al-Sheikh, said the "Palestinian leadership" has decided to go to the UN Security Council "to request international protection for our Palestinian people in light of the continuing crimes of the Israeli occupation."

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had struck a "weapons manufacturing site and a military compound" in central and northern Gaza, belonging to Hamas, in response to six rockets launched from the Strip towards Askalan and other areas. The development prompted Tor Wennesland, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East, to travel to Gaza to meet officials to ease tensions. 

The Israeli military said Palestinian militants fired six rockets and two anti-aircraft missiles from the Gaza Strip toward the country's south early Thursday. Air defences intercepted five of the rockets, with one landing in an open field, according to the military. The missiles did not hit their targets. The attacks were not immediately claimed by Palestinian militant groups.

Also, Thursday morning, Israeli prosecutors filed charges against a 13-year-old Palestinian boy for the alleged killing of an Israeli police officer last week at the Shuafat refugee camp military checkpoint.