Coronavirus: Palestinians in Gaza gird for an invisible invasion

The World Health Organization has provided protective equipment to Palestinian health workers. (AFP)
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Updated 26 March 2020
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Coronavirus: Palestinians in Gaza gird for an invisible invasion

  • Police have announced the closure of cafes, restaurants and markets across the coastal enclave
  • At least 1,271 Palestinians have been admitted to 18 quarantine centers set up by the Ministry of Health

GAZA CITY: As the deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreads across the Middle East, relative isolation might seem to be an advantage in keeping a community safe.

However, as the recent confirmation by Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Heath of two COVID-19 cases in the enclave demonstrates, no population in the Middle East, or indeed the wider world, can afford to assume it is invulnerable.

Even before the global pandemic hit, the public health system in the densely populated Palestinian territory was fragile.

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At least 1,271 Palestinians have been admitted to quarantine centers established in the Gaza Strip.

This was only to be expected after the long years of conflict with Israel, a security cum economic blockade since 2007, and the failure of the competing Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, to bury the hatchet.

Now, the tension is palpable. The police have announced the closure of cafes, restaurants and markets across the Gaza Strip. Gatherings in wedding halls and for prayers in mosques have been suspended.

The expectation is that restrictions will increase if more infections are reported.

In Israel, where the number of infections has crossed the 2,000 mark, authorities have adopted drastic measures to limit the movement of Palestinians entering the country.

The government body in charge of coordinating Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories has said all border crossings to Gaza and the West Bank will remain shut.

Anecdotal evidence would indicate a spike in demand for food and essential items across Gaza since the announcement of the two COVID-19 cases.

“We did not find medicines in hospitals before the last crisis hit Gaza,” said Ibrahim Aydiya, 44, a grocery store owner in Gaza City. “I don't know what will happen if infections spread inside the territory.”

According to Aydiya, there has been a significant increase in purchases by Gaza residents since the beginning of the month.

“I do not know what the poor are doing in Gaza, but since the announcement of the two cases, people have become increasingly interested in stocking up,” he said.

Overall, the Palestinian territories have recorded 62 COVID-19 cases, all in the Fatah-run West Bank, except the two in Gaza. At least 16 of the patients are said to have recovered.




Palestinian artists Samah Said (L) and Dorgham Krakeh paint N95 protective masks for a project raising awareness about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in Gaza City on March 24, 2020. (AFP / MOHAMMED ABED)

The Ministry of Health has set up 18 quarantine centers in the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of March. All arrivals from the Rafah and Erez crossings are placed in quarantine for 14 days as a precaution.

At least 1,271 Palestinians have been admitted to these centers, according to official sources.

On March 22, the Ministry of Health said the two Palestinians in question had recently returned from Pakistan through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and were placed under quarantine after they showed COVID-19 symptoms.

Many among Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants are not surprised that despite their insular existence, they are not immune from the unfolding global health crisis.

“It is impossible for Gaza to be completely isolated, and the spread of the infection across the world has been very fast,” said Fathi Lafi, a 52-year-old Palestinian.

“We do not live alone in this world. Our exposure to the coronavirus risk was limited, and this bought us time, but the virus has now reached our community.”

On the question of what Gaza can do under the circumstances, Lafi’s response summarized the attitude of a large swathe of Gaza’s population.

“The world does not care about us,” he told Arab News. “We should only care about ourselves.”

Help and advice are on hand, however. The World Health Organization (WHO) has assisted the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health in the form of protective clothing for health workers to handle people infected with COVID-19.

In Gaza, the agencies dealing with public health have been supplied test kits for infection detection.

Speaking to Arab News, Abdel Nasser Soboh, director of the WHO office in Gaza, said the UN is providing assistance to health authorities in the territory as it grapples with the emergency.

He said his office is in the process of providing ventilators and intensive care beds to support the health sector as it prepares for the worst-case scenario.

According to Medhat Abbas, director-general of primary care at the Ministry of Health, the state of the medical infrastructure is precarious owing to years of restrictions.

“Over the past several years, we have called on international institutions and the world to help us, but the response has been limited,” he told Arab News.

“We are in a difficult situation. Our capabilities are limited. However, we are in a state of emergency now and, so far, things are under control.”




The territory’s first cases arrived in Gaza from Pakistan. (AFP)

Abbas said Gaza has 40 Intensive Care Unit beds in normal times, adding that in a public health emergency, the number could be increased to a maximum of 100.

Referring to the two confirmed patients, he said: “They are in quarantine. All those who were in contact with them have been quarantined. There is no need for panic at this stage.”

He cautioned, nevertheless, that if the situation worsens, Gaza will need the world’s help.

“We can deal with existing cases and limited numbers, but if the outbreak intensifies, as is happening in some countries, we will need international intervention,” Abbas said.

It is not just the restrictions imposed on the movement of individuals and goods, including medical resources, that have weakened Gaza’s health defenses.

Chronic energy shortage has contributed to reductions in the availability and quality of health services.

Gaza’s health sector is plagued by a shortage of medical equipment and supplies, including stocks of antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs.

The problems have been compounded by the protracted rivalry between Hamas and Fatah and their failure to forge a common strategy to deal with crises.

According to a WHO report, “social determinants of health” have seriously deteriorated in Gaza.

Groundwater supplies are “essentially unfit for human consumption.” A large portion of untreated wastewater flows directly into the Mediterranean Sea. A crippled economy also weighs heavily on the population.

Jamie McGoldrick, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the coronavirus outbreak is a “big worry” for the UN.

“We are fearful because of the conditions on the ground, because of overcrowding and because of the nature of the system that supports people who might be affected,” McGoldrick has been quoted by UN News as saying.

“We don’t have the capacity to manage an outbreak.”




The UN has warned that Gaza’s high poverty rate could lead to a health crisis. (AFP)

According to McGoldrick, the major issues include a lack of funding and the ability to source critical materials in the global market at the right time.

Referring specifically to personal protective material, testing kits and ventilators, McGoldrick said: “There is huge shortage globally, and if we don’t have the money to purchase in the region, it would be a problem.

“We are in close cooperation with the Israelis over buying from Israel.”

Gaza’s Ministry of Economy has given assurances that current stocks of essential items in Gaza’s shops and markets are sufficient to last weeks.

“Except for shortages in local markets attributable to liquidity issues, goods are still flowing as usual from the Karm Abu Salem crossing,” Abdel-Fattah Mousa, spokesman for the Ministry of Economy, said.

Even so, Gaza is rife with fear and anxiety as the COVID-19 pandemic tightens its grip on the region.

Sumaiya Al-Danaf, 50, who buys groceries from Aydiya’s store in Gaza City, spoke perhaps for many when she said she is concerned about an outbreak in Gaza.

“The government in Gaza is weak and is incapable of dealing with a crisis due to the blockade and divisions,” she told Arab News.

“We have been in isolation for 14 years. The world has suffered from just 14 days of quarantine. It is the unjust world that does not feel for us.”


Israel says it’s moving toward Lebanon ceasefire

Updated 25 November 2024
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Israel says it’s moving toward Lebanon ceasefire

  • Axios said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal
  • Israel’s security cabinet was expected to approve deal on Tuesday

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Israel is moving toward a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah but there are still issues to address, its government said on Monday, while two senior Lebanese officials voiced guarded optimism of a deal soon even as Israeli strikes pounded Lebanon.
Axios, citing an unnamed senior US official, said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal, and that Israel’s security cabinet was expected to approve the deal on Tuesday.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said of a ceasefire: “We haven’t finalized it yet, but we are moving forward.” Asked for comment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it had nothing to say about the report.
Hostilities have intensified in parallel with the diplomatic flurry: Over the weekend, Israel carried out powerful airstrikes, one of which killed at least 29 people in central Beirut — while the Iran-backed Hezbollah unleashed one of its biggest rocket salvoes yet on Sunday, firing 250 missiles.
In Beirut, Israeli airstrikes levelled more of the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs on Monday, sending clouds of debris billowing over the Lebanese capital.
Efforts to clinch a truce appeared to advance last week when US mediator Amos Hochstein declared significant progress after talks in Beirut before holding meetings in Israel and then returning to Washington.
“We are moving in the direction toward a deal, but there are still some issues to address,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said, without elaborating.
Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador in Washington, told Israel’s GLZ radio an agreement was close and “it could happen within days ... We just need to close the last corners,” according to a post on X by GLZ senior anchorman Efi Triger.
In Beirut, Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab said a decisive moment was approaching and expressed cautious optimism. “The balance is slightly tilted toward there being (an agreement), but by a very small degree, because a person like Netanyahu cannot be trusted,” he said in a news conference.
A second senior Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Beirut had not received any new Israeli demands from US mediators, who were describing the atmosphere as positive and saying “things are in progress.”
The official told Reuters a ceasefire could be clinched this week.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah spiralled into full-scale war in September when Israel went on the offensive, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.
Israel has dealt major blows to Hezbollah, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders and inflicting massive destruction in areas of Lebanon where the group holds sway.
Diplomacy has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (19 miles) from the Israeli border.

ENFORCEMENT
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the test for any agreement would be in the enforcement of two main points.
“The first is preventing Hezbollah from moving southward beyond the Litani (River), and the second, preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its force and rearming in all of Lebanon,” Saar said in broadcast remarks to the Israeli parliament.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Israel must press on with the war until “absolute victory.” Addressing Netanyahu on X, he said “it is not too late to stop this agreement!“
But Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter said Israel should reach an agreement in Lebanon. “If we say ‘no’ to Hezbollah being south of the Litani, we mean it,” he told journalists.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said last week that the group had reviewed and given feedback on the US ceasefire proposal, and any truce was now in Israel’s hands.
Branded a terrorist group by the United States, the heavily armed, Shiite Muslim Hezbollah has endorsed Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri of the Shiite Amal movement to negotiate.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israel’s offensive has forced more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon.
Diplomacy has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (19 miles) from the Israeli border, and the regular Lebanese army to deploy into the frontier region.

 

 


Egypt says 17 missing after Red Sea tourist boat capsizes

Updated 25 November 2024
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Egypt says 17 missing after Red Sea tourist boat capsizes

  • Governor Amr Hanafi said that some survivors were rescued by an aircraft, while others were transported to safety aboard a warship

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities said 17 people including British nationals and other foreigners were missing after a tourist yacht capsized off the country’s Red Sea coast on Monday, with 28 others rescued.
The vessel, which was carrying 31 tourists of various nationalities and a 14-member crew, sent out a distress call at 5:30 am (0330 GMT), said a statement from Egypt’s Red Sea governorate.
An AFP tally confirmed that tourists involved in the incident include nationals from the UK, China, Finland, Poland and Spain.
The “Sea Story” embarked on Sunday on a multi-day diving trip from Port Ghalib near Marsa Alam in the southeast, and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north.
Governor Amr Hanafi said that some survivors were rescued by an aircraft, while others were transported to safety aboard a warship.
“Intensive search operations are underway in coordination with the navy and the armed forces,” Hanafi added in a statement.
Authorities have not confirmed the nationalities of the tourists.
Beijing’s embassy in Egypt said two of its nationals were “in good health” after being “rescued in the cruise ship sinking accident in the Red Sea,” Chinese state media reported.
The Finnish foreign ministry confirmed to AFP that one of its nationals is missing.
Polish foreign ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski said authorities “have information that two of the tourists may have had Polish citizenship.”
“That’s all we know about them. That’s all we can say for now,” he told national news agency PAP.The Red Sea governor’s office did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment about the possible cause of the accident.
According to a manager of a diving resort close to the rescue operation, one surviving crew member said they were “hit by a wave in the middle of the night, throwing the vessel on its side.”
Authorities in the Red Sea capital of Hurghada on Sunday shut down marine activities and the city’s port due to “bad weather conditions.”
But winds around Marsa Alam had remained favorable until Sunday night, the diving manager told AFP, before calming again by morning.
By Monday afternoon, it became increasingly “unlikely that the 17 missing would be rescued after 12 hours in the water,” he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The Marsa Alam area saw at least two similar boat accidents earlier this year but there were no fatalities.
The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt, a country of 105 million that is in the grip of a serious economic crisis. Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and generates more than 10 percent of GDP.
Dozens of dive boats criss-cross between coral reefs and islands off Egypt’s eastern coast every day, where safety regulations are robust but unevenly enforced.
Earlier this month, 30 people were rescued from a sinking dive boat near the Red Sea’s Daedalus reef.
In June, two dozen French tourists were evacuated safely before their boat sank in a similar accident.
Last year, three British tourists died when a fire broke out on their yacht, engulfing it in flames.


Israel says it’s moving toward Lebanon ceasefire

Updated 59 min 11 sec ago
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Israel says it’s moving toward Lebanon ceasefire

  • Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said of a ceasefire: “We haven’t finalized it yet, but we are moving forward”

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Israel is moving toward a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah but there are still issues to address, its government said on Monday, while two senior Lebanese officials voiced guarded optimism of a deal soon even as Israeli strikes pounded Lebanon.
Axios, citing an unnamed senior US official, said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal, and that Israel’s security cabinet was expected to approve the deal on Tuesday.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said of a ceasefire: “We haven’t finalized it yet, but we are moving forward.” Asked for comment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it had nothing to say about the report.
Hostilities have intensified in parallel with the diplomatic flurry: Over the weekend, Israel carried out powerful airstrikes, one of which killed at least 29 people in central Beirut — while the Iran-backed Hezbollah unleashed one of its biggest rocket salvoes yet on Sunday, firing 250 missiles.
In Beirut, Israeli airstrikes levelled more of the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs on Monday, sending clouds of debris billowing over the Lebanese capital.
Efforts to clinch a truce appeared to advance last week when US mediator Amos Hochstein declared significant progress after talks in Beirut before holding meetings in Israel and then returning to Washington.
“We are moving in the direction toward a deal, but there are still some issues to address,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said, without elaborating.
Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador in Washington, told Israel’s GLZ radio an agreement was close and “it could happen within days ... We just need to close the last corners,” according to a post on X by GLZ senior anchorman Efi Triger.
In Beirut, Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab said a decisive moment was approaching and expressed cautious optimism. “The balance is slightly tilted toward there being (an agreement), but by a very small degree, because a person like Netanyahu cannot be trusted,” he said in a news conference.
A second senior Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Beirut had not received any new Israeli demands from US mediators, who were describing the atmosphere as positive and saying “things are in progress.”
The official told Reuters a ceasefire could be clinched this week.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah spiralled into full-scale war in September when Israel went on the offensive, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.
Israel has dealt major blows to Hezbollah, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders and inflicting massive destruction in areas of Lebanon where the group holds sway.
Diplomacy has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (19 miles) from the Israeli border.

ENFORCEMENT
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the test for any agreement would be in the enforcement of two main points.
“The first is preventing Hezbollah from moving southward beyond the Litani (River), and the second, preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its force and rearming in all of Lebanon,” Saar said in broadcast remarks to the Israeli parliament.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Israel must press on with the war until “absolute victory.” Addressing Netanyahu on X, he said “it is not too late to stop this agreement!“
But Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter said Israel should reach an agreement in Lebanon. “If we say ‘no’ to Hezbollah being south of the Litani, we mean it,” he told journalists.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said last week that the group had reviewed and given feedback on the US ceasefire proposal, and any truce was now in Israel’s hands.
Branded a terrorist group by the United States, the heavily armed, Shiite Muslim Hezbollah has endorsed Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri of the Shiite Amal movement to negotiate.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israel’s offensive has forced more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon.
Diplomacy has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (19 miles) from the Israeli border, and the regular Lebanese army to deploy into the frontier region.


Arrest Warrant: UK would follow ‘due process’ if Netanyahu were to visit – foreign minister

Updated 25 November 2024
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Arrest Warrant: UK would follow ‘due process’ if Netanyahu were to visit – foreign minister

  • ICC issued arrest warrants on Thursday against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Several EU states have said they will meet commitments under the statute if needed

FIUGGI: Britain would follow due process if Benjamin Netanyahu visited the UK, foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday, when asked if London would fulfil the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister.
“We are signatories to the Rome Statute, we have always been committed to our obligations under international law and international humanitarian law,” Lammy told reporters at a G7 meeting in Italy.
“Of course, if there were to be such a visit to the UK, there would be a court process and due process would be followed in relation to those issues.”
The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes against humanity.
Several EU states have said they will meet their commitments under the statute if needed, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him he would face no risks if he did so.
“The states that signed the Rome convention must implement the court’s decision. It’s not optional,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.
Those same obligations were also binding on countries aspiring to join the EU, he said.

 

 


Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Updated 25 November 2024
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Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Istanbul: A 33-year-old Turkish man shot dead seven people in Istanbul on Sunday, including his parents, his wife and his 10-year-old son, before taking his own life, the authorities reported on Monday.
The man, who was found dead in his car shortly after the shooting, is also accused of wounding two other family members, one of them seriously, the Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement.
The authorities, who had put the death toll at four on Sunday evening, announced on Monday the discovery near a lake on Istanbul’s European shore of the bodies of the killer’s wife and son, as well as the lifeless body of his mother-in-law.
According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS), a Swiss research program, over 13.2 million firearms are in circulation in Turkiye, most of them illegally, for a population of around 85 million.