Palestinians launch strikes and protests after Israel's brutal Jenin massacre

Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday morning after Israeli forces killed at least six Palestinians and wounded 16 more during a brutal raid on the Jenin refugee camp a day earlier.

Palestinian businesses, schools, and public institutions closed shop on Wednesday as a general strike was announced to protest the latest Israeli massacre in the occupied West Bank. 

Funerals and demonstrations were held in Jenin, Hebron, Ramallah, and other parts of the West Bank, in response to a call from the Lions' Den armed group to protest the Israeli killings.

تغطية صحفية: "مدينة نابلس تلبي نداء عريــن الأســود". pic.twitter.com/KM0cGPQaqk

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) March 7, 2023

Protesters in Nablus and Ramallah chanted support for the Lions' Den after the affiliated Jenin Brigade fought Israeli soldiers in the city's refugee camp on Tuesday, leading to at least one Israeli drone being downed. 

Footage on social media showed Palestinian security out in force on Wednesday - a marked change to the usual policing of protests following other massacres by Israeli forces. 

Witnesses reported PA security personnel attacking a funeral procession in Nablus for slain Hamas-linked fighter Abdel Fatah Hussein Khrousheh on Wednesday morning, whose coffin fell to the ground in the melee. 

"لا إلا الا الله" يهتف بها مُشيعوا جثمان الشهيد عبد الفتاح خروشة.

هي أيضا ممنوعة ويُقابلها رصاص وقنابل غازية وصوتية!!

-وما زالت سلطة التنسيق الأمني بزعامة عباس تؤكد على المُؤكد بأنهم وجه آخر للاحتلال، ولا فرق بينهم.#نابلس #جنين pic.twitter.com/n1waNOrseE

— يحيى بشير | Yahya Basheer (@Yahya_M_Basheer) March 8, 2023

Bloodbath in Jenin

Local sources told The New Arab that Israeli troops, hidden in a civilian truck, raided Jenin refugee camp at 3pm, surrounding a house in the upper part of the camp before more Israeli forces moved in. The raid saw dozens of Israeli soldiers clash with Palestinian fighters.

Throughout the evening heavy gunfights and Israeli snipers left six Palestinians dead and 16 injured - many in critical condition. 

Reports of casualties among the Israeli raiding party are yet to be confirmed, while videos online show residents celebrating as an Israeli drone was downed by Palestinian fire. 

In late January, Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in a raid on the Jenin refugee camp, and in late February, Israeli forces killed ten Palestinians in another attack on Nablus.

With the raid, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year has risen to 68, including 11 children.

In a statement, the Palestinian president's bureau said that "the Israeli daily killings of our people are a total war and destruction of everything" and called on the US administration "to immediately interfere and pressure the Israeli government into stopping its crimes".