Hamas has censured the Palestinian Authority (PA) for suppressing the occupied West Bank demonstrations in support of an end to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the resistance group said the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, is “directly and clearly seeking to thwart any popular movement in support of Gaza.”

The statement came a day after Palestinians across the West Bank shut down businesses in a general strike and rallied in solidarity with their fellow countrymen amid the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

Monday’s demonstrations did not just face Israeli repression as the PA launched a clampdown on participants and arrested several of them.

Hamas said the PA’s actions serve Israel’s interests and are a “stab in the back” of Palestinians.

Shops, schools and most public administrative offices were closed across the West Bank during the strike, which was called by a coalition of Palestinian factions to protest the Israeli “genocide and the ongoing massacre of our people.”

Imad Salman, owner of a souvenir shop in al-Quds’ Old City, said the closure is for “our family in Gaza, our children in Gaza.”

“This strike is in solidarity with Gaza and what is happening there,” said another Palestinian named Ahmed. “This war must stop, the killing and destruction must stop, and only peace should prevail — peace, and nothing but peace.”

Similar pro-Palestine protests took place in Tunisia, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon on Monday.

Israel launched its genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023, but it failed to achieve its declared objectives despite killing 50,752 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring more than 115,475 others. 

The usurping entity accepted longstanding negotiation terms by Hamas under a Gaza ceasefire, which began on January 19.

On March 18, however, Israel unilaterally broke the truce and resumed its relentless bombing of Gaza.