JAKARTA - A massive strike in protest against an Israeli law allowing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday paralysed daily life across the occupied West Bank.
Shops, public and private institutions, banks, universities and schools were closed, while hospitals and bakeries remained open, according to an Anadolu correspondent.
Streets in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority's seat of government, appeared largely empty, with businesses shuttered.
The strike followed a call from the Fatah movement, which a day earlier announced a general strike to protest the law.
Fatah said the strike was part of an effort to overturn Israeli laws, describing it as a dangerous escalation and violation targeting Palestinians.
The group also called for a wider public mobilization and increased regional and international pressure to repeal the law.
In parallel, thousands of people demonstrated in Ramallah on Wednesday to protest the law, following a rally organized by prisoner rights groups, including the Palestinian Prisoners Society, the Prisoners Affairs Commission, and the Addameer human rights group in the central Manara Square.
The demonstrators moved through several streets in Ramallah, shouting protests against Israeli policies and death penalty laws, while expressing support for prisoners held in Israeli jails, according to Anadolu's reporter, quoted (1/4).
Palestinian faction leaders and religious figures also joined the rally, the reporter said.
Participants waved Palestinian flags and held solidarity banners during the protest.
It is known that the Israeli Knesset approved the controversial bill on Monday. The law allows the court to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of intentionally killing Israeli citizens without requiring a prosecutor's request and without the unanimous approval of the court.
The law also applies to military courts that handle cases involving Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
According to the Prisoners' Affairs Commission, 117 Palestinians currently detained in Israeli jails could be subject to the law.
The law has drawn criticism in Israel. Around 1,200 Israelis, including Nobel laureates, former military officials, and former Supreme Court justices, voiced strong opposition in February, calling it a "moral stain."
More than 9,500 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, including 350 children and 73 women, according to Palestinian data. Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups say the prisoners face torture, starvation and medical neglect, leading to dozens of deaths.
Since October 2023, Israel has tightened measures against Palestinian prisoners amid the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 72,000 people and injured 172,000, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
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