Palestinian citizens of Israel are holding a general strike on Thursday to protest spiralling violence and organised crime amid growing accusations that Israeli authorities are complicit in allowing criminal networks to flourish inside Palestinian communities.
The strike is part of an unprecedented wave of popular mobilisation, backed by Palestinian political leadership, and includes calls for a mass protest outside the Misgav police station near the Galilee city of Sakhnin.
Palestinian towns and cities inside Israel have witnessed a sharp escalation in murders, gang violence and extortion schemes, with criminal groups increasingly imposing protection rackets on shops and businesses.
The spread of illegal weapons has fuelled near-daily shooting incidents, which have repeatedly killed civilians, including children, often dismissed by Israeli authorities as "mistakes" or the result of "stray bullets".
These descriptions are widely rejected within the Palestinian community, where there is a prevailing belief that Israeli policies are enabling organised crime as a means of undermining social cohesion and security.
Unlike previous protests calling for protection and safety, the current mobilisation was sparked days earlier by a shop owner in Sakhnin, Ali Zubeidat, whose business was sprayed with gunfire by criminals demanding protection money. Zubeidat announced he would shut down his shops indefinitely, a move that quickly resonated across the community.
As word spread, other shop owners followed suit, while the Sakhnin municipality and local popular committees declared a citywide strike in response to public pressure. Groups of doctors, pharmacists, lawyers and residents joined the action, which soon expanded beyond Sakhnin to other Palestinian towns.
The mobilisation gained national momentum when the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and the National Committee of Arab Local Authority Heads announced a comprehensive general strike across Palestinian society inside Israel.
Speaking from a protest tent set up in Sakhnin on Wednesday night, the two bodies described the strike as part of a broader escalation that could later include civil disobedience.
Zubeidat said more than 200 bullets were fired at his shop and warned that the attack could easily have resulted in deaths had anyone been inside. He said he had received serious threats to his life for refusing to pay protection money, known locally as khawa.
"I refuse that. This is our livelihood, and we must protect it from these trends," he said. "To avoid the risk, I closed my businesses. People's safety is more important than money."
Zubeidat accused Israeli police of failing to protect Palestinian citizens, saying the community could no longer remain silent. He said the widespread support for his decision reflected deep pain and an urgent yearning for safety within Palestinian society.
The head of the Follow-Up Committee, Jamal Zahalka, said the strike was announced "from the tent of dignity and pride in Sakhnin, rising against violence and crime, and in defence of our community’s right to life, security and safety".
He said the mobilisation drew its legitimacy from popular action and from "a society drowning in blood".
In a statement, the committee urged Palestinians to unite against crime and the complicity of the Israeli establishment, calling on people to raise their voices "so they are louder than the buzz of bullets and stronger than the criminals and those who protect them".
The strike has also been backed by popular committees from towns and villages across the country, as well as by the National Committee of Arab Parents.
Mazen Ghnaim, mayor of Sakhnin and head of the local authority committee, said the situation had become intolerable.
"Every day and every night, people roam the streets firing shots and burning shops. They film themselves and publish it without fear," he said. "Where are the state, its institutions and its police?"
As calls grow to demonstrate outside the Misgav police station to demand security and an end to police complicity with criminals, Israeli authorities have sought to restrict the protest.
The legal rights group Adalah is appearing before Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday after filing an urgent petition challenging police restrictions that would prevent the march from reaching the junction leading to the station.
Data from specialised bodies show that more than 2,500 Palestinians inside Israel have been killed in violent crimes since 2000, with a dramatic escalation over the past five years.
By the end of 2025 alone, 249 people had been murdered, the highest figure ever recorded, while the pace of killings had accelerated further at the start of 2026.
Israeli police solved only 38 cases related to these killings last year, despite extensive resources. Clearance rates were similarly low in previous years, reinforcing widespread accusations that Palestinian lives are systematically devalued by the state.
Palestinian citizens of Israel, also called 1948 Palestinians, are the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants of the land who owned and lived on it long before the establishment of Israel in 1948, and who remained after its creation despite widespread forced expulsions, massacres and violence carried out by Zionist militias during the Nakba.