Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and refugee camps in the Palestinian territories and the diaspora, to participate in a one-day strike and a three-day mourning period. The Hamas government in Gaza also called for a general strike.

All government offices, ministries, institutions as well as schools, colleges and universities were shut down.

Mourning tents were erected at the headquarters of West Bank governorates to express sympathy with the flotilla victims.

Some 100 Palestinians organized a sit-in in front of the Turkish consulate in Ramallah to show solidarity with the victims.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also organized a sit-in at Al-Manarah Square in central Ramallah. "Shame on the pirates of seas," a banner said. "Freedom for journalists," another banner said. It was referring to the journalists who were part of the flotilla.

Basil Kan'an, the head of the Nablus Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture, told Arab News that the city was dominated by the strike. Kan'an said that hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and bakeries were exempted from the strike.

He added that the strike was "the least the Palestinian people can do to show support to the victims of the Israeli attack."

Tarik Nidal, a Ramallah-based merchant, said that he closed his shop in order "to show solidarity and support for all the participants in the Freedom Flotilla."

"I wish to express my condemnation and disgust at the massacre that the Israeli army carried out against the participants of the flotilla," Nidal told Arab News. "There was no justification for the massacre," he said.

According to Nidal, "every human being must demonstrate his support for those who left their families and countries to take part in the humanitarian mission."