Ramallah, April 21 (RHC)-- The Palestinian Hamas resistance group has called for a general strike across the occupied West Bank and a day of mourning in condemnation of an Israeli military raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp that killed at least 14 Palestinians.
The Gaza-based group called upon all walks of society in the West Bank to pour out onto the streets, and engage in confrontations with criminal forces of the Zionist regime in reprisal for the deadly assault in the northwestern West Bank city of Tulkarm.
“As we mourn the noble martyrs of Tulkarm, who confronted the [Israeli] occupation forces with determination and steadfastness, we affirm that Zionist criminality will not bring security to the occupying Tel Aviv regime. The resistance of our people will pass on from one generation to another until final victory and full liberation of our occupied lands,” Hamas said in a statement.
It added, “We call on our people in the West Bank to take part in a general strike on Sunday, and turn all squares and hangouts into places where great wrath and anger in unleashed on the occupying regime. We also urge freedom fighters to aim their rifles at occupation forces and criminal settlers.”
Earlier, Mustafa Taqatqa, governor of Tulkarm, had called for a general strike in the occupied West Bank and a day of mourning on Sunday to protest an Israeli raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp.
“All these crimes will not affect the determination of our people and their free will, leading to the end of the occupation and the establishment of our independent Palestinian state,” he was quoted as saying by the official Wafa news agency.
Israeli forces began an extended raid in the early hours of Friday in the Nur Shams refugee camp, near the flashpoint Palestinian city of Tulkarm, and continued exchanging fire with local fighters well into Saturday.
Israeli military vehicles massed and bursts of gunfire were heard, while at least three drones hovered above the area. The Tulkarm Brigades, which groups forces from numerous Palestinian factions, said its fighters exchanged fire with Israeli forces on Saturday.
The Israeli regime has notably escalated its aggression against Palestinians across the West Bank since October 7, when it began an all-out genocidal war on Gaza.
At least 483 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank ever since the onset of the war that has claimed the lives of more than 34,000 people so far.
