{"id":17940,"date":"2023-12-11T14:13:15","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T12:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=17940"},"modified":"2026-10-08T20:48:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:48:02","slug":"gaza-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/gaza-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The War on Gaza: A General Strike Sweeps Palestine, and a Call for a Global Popular Movement to Stop the War"},"content":{"rendered":"

A general strike swept Palestine today, Monday, in condemnation of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, for the 66th consecutive day. The strike demanded “an end to the massacres and the bombing of homes, hospitals and shelters”.<\/p>\n

The strike, called by Palestinian factions in the northern governorates, paralysed all aspects of life; universities, banks and shops closed, amid popular calls to continue confrontation activities against the occupation, according to the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA).<\/p>\n

This coincides with a movement calling for a general strike around the world to demand an end to the aggression on the Gaza Strip, in solidarity with the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n

The strike included public transport in the northern governorates; the streets were empty of vehicles and pedestrians, and factories and workshops closed their doors.<\/p>\n

Activists on social media platforms had launched calls for a general strike around the world in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

The global general strike aims to urge governments to take serious action to stop the war, which has been going on for more than two months.<\/p>\n

According to the details of the calls circulating on social media, participation in the global strike includes refraining from going to workplaces, schools and universities, or opening shops in shopping centres, not using vehicles, and not shopping or using bank cards to pay for purchases.<\/p>\n

Since 7 October, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has left about 18,000 people killed and about 47,000 wounded, most of them children and women, in addition to thousands still under the rubble.<\/p>\n

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On Day 65 of the War… 300 Palestinians Killed in Gaza<\/h3>\n

Gaza was subjected to violent air strikes and witnessed fierce battles on the 66th day of the Israeli aggression on the besieged Strip. Israeli army tanks tried at dawn today to push south into the city of Khan Younis and its surroundings and were confronted by Palestinian resistance factions, amid fierce battles in the war, which has entered its third month.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that about 300 people killed had arrived at the Strip’s hospitals in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to about 18,000 and the number of wounded to 49,000.<\/p>\n

Diplomats expect the 193-member United Nations General Assembly to vote tomorrow, Tuesday, on a draft resolution demanding a ceasefire, after the US “veto” blocked the adoption of a similar resolution in the Security Council.<\/p>\n

For its part, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced yesterday, Sunday, a series of attacks it carried out against the Israeli occupation army, which has been pushing into the Gaza Strip for weeks.<\/p>\n

The Al-Qassam Brigades revealed that it had targeted gatherings of soldiers and disabled military vehicles inside the Strip, in addition to shelling areas inside Israel.<\/p>\n

Two Palestinian institutions said that the Israeli occupation authorities are holding 142 Palestinian women, including infant girls and elderly women from the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

This came in a joint statement by the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the non-governmental Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.<\/p>\n

The statement said that the occupation authorities “are holding 142 women and girls from Gaza as prisoners in their jails, including infant girls and elderly women who were arrested during the ground invasion”.<\/p>\n

It added that the level of fear for the fate of the women prisoners is increasing in light of the shocking and horrific images and testimonies that have emerged from citizens recently arrested in Gaza, “and we do not rule out the occupation carrying out field executions of detainees from Gaza”.<\/p>\n

There has been no comment so far from the occupation authorities on the joint statement by the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Prisoners’ Society.<\/p>\n

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4 Israeli Soldiers Killed… and “Maariv”: Is Our Army Capable of Winning?<\/h3>\n

The Israeli occupation army announced this morning, Monday, that 3 soldiers had been killed in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, while a fourth officer died in an accident, bringing the number of Israeli army dead since 7 October to 430.<\/p>\n

According to the Israeli army statement, those killed in the Gaza fighting are: Sergeant (res.) Gideon Ilani (35), Sergeant (res.) Itay Beri (36), and Major (res.) Evyatar Cohen (42), a training officer in the 8111th Battalion of the 5th Brigade.<\/p>\n

The statement reported the death of Major Gal Bekher (34) in a military traffic accident in the south of the country.<\/p>\n

In a related context, the Israeli newspaper Maariv published an article on the prospects of the occupation army winning the war on Gaza, noting that the general idea in Israel is that the army is strong and capable of facing any threat, “even though the last time it achieved a military victory was in 1967”.<\/p>\n

The article asked: have we considered the possibility that our army is incapable of winning today?<\/p>\n

The newspaper pointed out that more than two months into the war on Gaza, the end is still far from the horizon, adding that “Israel believed it had convinced the world of the importance of this war, but it seems that hope of achieving a victory is fading”.<\/p>\n

The newspaper explained that “attempts are being made to convince the Israeli people of victories here and there. News bulletins have become cheering and glorification of the army’s achievements. But it seems that what is told to the Israeli citizen does not represent the whole truth”.<\/p>\n

It said that over the past years the Israeli people accused politicians of preventing the army from achieving the desired victory. But it seems, according to the newspaper, that the Israeli army is incapable of that.<\/p>\n

It said that “Israel is not fighting a state but an armed organisation, and boasts of eliminating the head of this or that unit, forgetting that the Hamas air system is not like the Israeli one, on which the United States has spent billions of dollars, but rather a group of drones”.<\/p>\n

The newspaper pointed out that the end is unknown to Israelis, but the reality today is that the people are afraid.<\/p>\n

It explained that Israeli children play a game in the public park called “Where will we hide if the terrorists come”, and on television Hamas appears as one enjoying the current events, which have begun to bear fruit for it through releasing or not releasing hostages.<\/p>\n

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UN: 470,000 Displaced from Gaza to Rafah… “So Far”<\/h3>\n

The city of Rafah in Gaza, the last refuge of displacement adjacent to the Egyptian border, is recording tens of thousands of new displacements daily, with the number reaching more than 470,000 displaced people, in addition to the city’s 280,000 residents, according to the latest statistics of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).<\/p>\n

UN estimates warned that the city of Rafah may soon have to host half of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.3 million, as the war intensifies in the north and south of the Strip.<\/p>\n

Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, said in a statement last week that successive evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army would add another half a million displaced people to the city.<\/p>\n

According to an investigation by the Arab World News Agency, the people of Rafah cannot find clean drinking water, while prices in the city are rising beyond the purchasing power of residents, which threatens famine.<\/p>\n

The return of the displaced to their homes seems a distant prospect, as the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted security officials yesterday, Sunday, as saying that some displaced people may be allowed to return to their homes, but only after at least two months.<\/p>\n

Eleven Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded at dawn today, Monday, after Israeli air strikes on homes in Rafah and Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

In Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, 6 Palestinians, most of them children, were killed and others suffered various injuries after Israeli aircraft bombed a residential apartment belonging to the Sobh family in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of the city, according to the Palestinian news agency.<\/p>\n

Five Palestinians, including 3 children, were also killed in an Israeli strike on a home in Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, and a number of injured people arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after Israel bombed a house in the Al-Bassa area of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

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Blinken to the “Arab League”: Washington Supports the Need to Prevent Displacement<\/h3>\n

The US State Department revealed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a meeting with a joint delegation from the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, affirmed what it described as Washington’s keenness to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

Blinken received the delegation after the United States used its “veto” in the Security Council to thwart a UN resolution to stop the war on Gaza.<\/p>\n

The State Department statement said that Blinken stressed the need to prevent displacement and to keep the conflict from widening.<\/p>\n

The State Department explained that Blinken discussed with his Turkish counterpart the efforts made to ensure that the conflict does not widen.<\/p>\n

In the same context, a poll in the United States showed that 61% of Americans disapprove of US President Joe Biden’s handling of the war on Gaza.<\/p>\n

The poll, conducted by CBS News on a sample of 2,144 adults from 6 to 8 December, showed that 34% of respondents believe the US administration’s actions do not serve peace with regard to Gaza, while 20% said they believe they have brought the matter closer to a peaceful solution, according to the Anadolu news agency.<\/p>\n

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Popular Committee: Egyptian Aid to Gaza Held Up for 12 Days<\/h3>\n

The Egyptian popular committee tasked with delivering aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza complained that aid estimated at 25 tonnes had not been allowed to enter the besieged Strip.<\/p>\n

The committee said in a statement yesterday that the aid convoy, comprising 3 trucks, set off from Cairo to Ismailia and then Arish on Monday, 27 November, and since then it has not been permitted to cross to our brothers in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The committee added, in the statement published by Medhat El-Zahed, head of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, on his Facebook page, that the 12-day delay of the aid does not apply only to the committee, noting that there are hundreds of trucks in Arish waiting for permission to cross.<\/p>\n

The statement went on: “The committee, made up of a small number of volunteers, has pledged to spare no effort until the aid reaches our brotherly people in Gaza”, explaining that the committee had not intended to announce any details before achieving this goal.<\/p>\n

It added that the committee has no goal other than completing the mission as quickly as possible, and was forced to announce the current situation after it found that “the dear people who contributed donations have the right to know that the failure of the aid to arrive so far is beyond the committee’s control”.<\/p>\n

The statement stressed that the committee will not rest and will spare no effort until the aid enters the besieged Strip.<\/p>\n

Zawia3 had published an in-depth investigation titled “The Convoy of the World’s Conscience under Compulsory Detention<\/a>“, which addresses the obstacles, due to security complications, faced by the relief convoys that set off after the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate’s call for urgent relief for Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

A source in opposition circles, who asked not to be named, said there is security pressure “aimed at preventing the convoy”, and there are attempts by the civil current and the popular committee to overcome it, while Khaled El-Balshy, head of the Journalists Syndicate, did not provide information on this matter, saying only: “What the syndicate decides is issued in an official statement, and I have no further comment now.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A general strike paralysed the West Bank on day 66 of the war on Gaza as activists called for a worldwide strike to demand an end to the aggression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[390],"tags":[18294,18295,18296,18289,18287,18290,18288,18292,18293,18291],"kateb":[710],"class_list":["post-17940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-antony-blinken-arab-league-delegation","tag-cbs-news-poll-biden-gaza","tag-egyptian-popular-committee-aid-convoy","tag-gaza-war-day-66","tag-global-strike-for-gaza","tag-khan-younis-ground-offensive","tag-palestine-general-strike-december-2023","tag-palestinian-women-detainees","tag-rafah-displacement-unrwa","tag-un-general-assembly-ceasefire-vote","kateb-zawia3-com"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/\u0645\u0639\u0628\u0631-\u0631\u0641\u062d-2.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17941,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17940\/revisions\/17941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17940"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=17940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}