Palestinians strike in West Bank, Jerusalem over Israel killings

Teen dies a month after being shot by Israeli forces, and one-day shutdown called after suspect in Jerusalem attack killed in shootout.

A Palestinian demonstrator fires an object with a slingshot during a protest following the killing of Uday Tamimi near Ramallah on Thursday [Mohamad Torokman/Reuters]

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – A Palestinian teenager has succumbed to wounds he sustained one month ago when he was shot by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian health ministry announced that Mohammad Fadi Nouri, 16, died on Thursday.

Nouri was shot in the stomach during confrontations on the outskirts of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the ministry said.

The teen’s death was announced as Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank began a one-day general strike and called for confrontations with Israeli forces.

Thursday’s shutdown came in response to the killing of another Palestinian, 22-year-old Uday Tamimi, on Wednesday night.

Israeli authorities accused Tamimi of an October 8 shooting at the main checkpoint into the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, in which one Israeli soldier was killed and another wounded.

Following a 12-day manhunt, Israeli forces killed Tamimi in a shootout after he allegedly carried out a second shooting near the illegal Israeli settlement of Maaleh Adumim in the West Bank.

Israeli media reported a security guard was treated for minor wounds to the hand.

A surveillance video of the gun battle, which lasted for about a minute, was shared on social media. Tamimi was pronounced dead at the scene.

Israeli forces imposed a four-day siege on the Shuafat refugee camp and surrounding areas after the October 8 attack, in which 130,000 people were prevented from entering or exiting.

General strike

All major Palestinian political groups and institutions throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the ruling Fatah party, announced a general strike on Wednesday night.

Hundreds of Palestinian youth, including armed men, held marches across several Palestinian cities and refugee camps.

Confrontations broke out with Israeli forces in several locations on Thursday, including at the main crossing between Ramallah and Jerusalem, in Bethlehem, Nablus and Hebron.

The Fatah party said in a statement that Thursday would be a day of “escalation on all confrontation points over the soul of the martyr and hero Uday Tamimi and in condemnation of the occupation’s crimes”.

The General Union of Palestinian Teachers said the strike would involve all schools and the education ministry. All Palestinian universities in the West Bank also joined the strike.

Hamas, the armed movement that governs the besieged Gaza Strip, said in its own statement that Tamimi “is a national icon who represents Palestinian courage in his struggle against the occupier”.

The “joint operations room”, which is made up of the main political parties in Gaza, condemned the killing and called on residents of the Palestinian territory to stand in a moment of silence on the streets at noon on Thursday as a salute to Tamimi.

Source: Al Jazeera

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