Palestinians call general strike to demand end to Israeli war on Gaza

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestinian factions called a general strike on Monday to pile pressure on Israel to halt its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the factions appealed to all Palestinians in the occupied territories and refugee camps abroad and supporters to join the planned strike “to highlight the massacres and heinous crimes committed by the [Israeli] occupation, including the killing of civilians, children and women, and the destruction aimed at displacing our people.”

They called for urgent action to halt the Israeli war on Gaza “in light of the failure of the international community to impose sanctions on the occupation or hold its terrorist government accountable."

Gaza's civil defence agency said that Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory on Sunday killed at least 44 people and wounded dozens more.

"The death toll as a result of Israeli air strikes since dawn today is at least 44, including 21 in Khan Yunis," the Gaza Strip's main southern city, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

A Palestinian child was killed and two others injured on Sunday evening by gunfire from the Israeli army and an illegal Israeli settler in Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry stated that the General Authority for Civil Affairs, the Palestinian liaison with Israel, informed it of “the martyrdom of Omar Mohamed Saada Rabie, 14, by occupation forces’ bullets in Turmus Ayya.”

In a separate statement, the ministry reported “the arrival of a critically injured child and another with minor wounds to the Istishari Hospital in Ramallah, after an illegal Israeli settler opened fire on them in the same town.”

Israel last month ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground offensive, carrying out waves of strikes and seizing territory to pressure the militant group to accept a new deal for a truce and release of remaining hostages. It has also blocked the import of food, fuel and humanitarian aid for over a month to the coastal territory heavily reliant on outside assistance.

“Stocks are getting low and the situation is becoming desperate,” the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media.

Ten people were killed, including eight children, and several people were injured when Israeli artillery shelled the Al-Nakheel Street east of Gaza City, a medical source said.

An Israeli airstrike also killed five people in the central city of Deir al-Balah, he added.

Another medical source said that three people lost their lives in an airstrike that targeted the Shujaiya neighborhood east of Gaza City.

Two more people were killed and several others injured when Israeli fighter jets hit a home near Ain Jalut School in the Zeitoun neighborhood in the same city, he added.

Artillery shelling also killed four more people in the Salam neighborhood in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, the source said.

One more Palestinian was killed, and several people were injured in a drone strike on a displacement camp in the Zawayda area in central Gaza, medics said.

Warplanes also struck a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, leaving eight people dead, another medical source said.

One more Palestinian was killed in another strike targeting a group of civilians in the Qizan Raswan area in southern Khan Younis.

A Palestinian child was killed and several people were injured in Israeli shelling of a tent sheltering displaced people in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis. Another person was killed, and four others were wounded in artillery shelling in Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis.

According to witnesses, Israeli forces continued to demolish residential buildings in northern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Last weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to escalate attacks on Gaza as efforts are underway to implement U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to displace Palestinians from the enclave.

Nearly 50,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.