War in the Middle East
General strike in the West Bank – More dead and injured
Military vehicles in the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in Tulkarem. photo
© Ayman Nobani/XinHua/dpa
Strike after deaths and injuries in the West Bank: Shops and workshops remained closed in Ramallah and other cities on Sunday. Meanwhile, further incidents occur.
In protest against Israeli military operations with dead Palestinians in a refugee camp in Tulkarem and in the Gaza Strip A general strike began in the West Bank. The Fatah movement, among others, called for the strike. According to eyewitnesses, there was hardly any traffic in the streets of Ramallah on Sunday morning and shops were closed.
Tensions have also increased in the West Bank since the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7th. On Sunday, Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians north of Hebron. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that it had been informed by Israeli authorities of the deaths of the 18 and 19 year old men. According to the army, they had previously attacked Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint.
According to the Israeli army, armed Palestinians fired on an Israeli kibbutz from the West Bank across the so-called Green Line on Sunday. Nobody got hurt. Soldiers blocked the access roads in the area and searched for the perpetrators in a nearby town.
In the West Bank on Sunday, an Israeli settler was slightly injured when he removed a Palestinian flag near a road and an explosive device exploded.
Israeli forces had carried out a major operation in the West Bank by Saturday evening. According to the army, they killed at least ten gunmen. Nine Israeli security forces were also injured in fighting in the Nur Schams refugee camp in Tulkarem. The Ministry of Health in the West Bank reported 14 dead and several injured in the operation, including a 16-year-old teenager.
Since October 7, 462 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank alone, according to the Ministry of Health. Most of them died in Israeli military operations. Some were also killed in their own attacks on Israelis.
Israel conquered, among other things, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War in 1967. The Palestinians claim the areas for their own state with East Jerusalem as its capital.