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.”


IRGC commander, 2 nuclear scientists killed in Israeli strikes: Iran state TV

Updated 6 sec ago
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IRGC commander, 2 nuclear scientists killed in Israeli strikes: Iran state TV

  • Another top IRGC official and two nuclear scientists also reported dead

RIYADH: Iranian state television reported early Friday that Hossein Salami, the chief of the Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was killed in Israeli strikes on Tehran.

Salami was reportedly at the IRGC headquarters, which was targetted in the strikes.

The nuclear scientists were identified as Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi.

Several children were also reported killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital, the state TV report added.

Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes.

In a recorded video message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel targeted Iranian scientists working on a nuclear bomb, its ballistic missile program and its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, in an operation that he said would continue "for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said, adding that the targeted military operation was meant to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.

An Israeli military official said Israel was striking “dozens” of nuclear and military targets including the facility at Natanz in central Iran. The official said Iran had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days.

Alongside extensive air strikes, Israel’s Mossad spy agency led a series of covert sabotage operations inside Iran, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official. These operations were aimed at damaging Iran’s strategic missile sites and its air defense capabilities.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel’s air defense units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.

“Following the pre-emptive strike by the State of Israel against Iran, a missile and UAV (drone) attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate time frame,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

(With Agencies)


Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

Updated 25 min 47 sec ago
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Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

  • “We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said in a video message
  • Says Israel also targetting scientists working on Iran nuclear weapons
  • Iran state TV reported that at least two nuclear scientists were killed in the Israeli strike

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s attack on Iran would “continue for as many days as it takes” after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that Israel launched a ‘targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.’

Calling the offensive “Rising Lion,” he said Israel was also targeting Iranian commanders and missile factories, and declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Tehran.
“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the recorded video message.

“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz... We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program,” he said, adding that Israel had also hit Iranian nuclear scientists “working on the Iranian bomb.”

Iran state TV later reported that nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed in the Israeli strike.

A witness in Nantanz city said multiple explosions were heard near the facility, and a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the country’s leadership was holding a top security meeting.
 

 


Rubio warns Iran against targetting US positions

Updated 29 min 17 sec ago
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Rubio warns Iran against targetting US positions

  • Says the US was not involved and that Israel acted unilaterally because it believes the operation was necessary for self-defense
  • “We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” he said in a statement

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran late Thursday not to respond to Israeli strikes by hitting American bases, saying Washington was not involved.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel.”

He said Israel acted unilaterally because it believes the operation was necessary for self-defense.
Israel announced strikes on Iran, where loud explosions were heard, hours after US President Donald Trump publicly said they should not do so.
“Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense,” Rubio said, without offering support or criticism of the strikes by the close US ally.
“President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners,” he said.

CNN reported that US President Donald Trump was convening a cabinet meeting.
Crude oil prices jumped more than $3 a barrel on the news.
US and Iranian officials were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s escalating uranium enrichment program in Oman on Sunday, according to officials from both countries and their Omani mediators. But the talks have appeared to be deadlocked.
Trump said on Thursday an Israeli strike on Iran “could very well happen” but reiterated his hopes for a peaceful resolution.

US intelligence had indicated that Israel was making preparations for a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, and US officials said on condition of anonymity that Israel could attack in the coming days.
The US military is planning for the full range of contingencies in the Middle East, including the possibility that it might have to help evacuate American civilians, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.


Israel attacks Iran’s capital with explosions booming across Tehran

Updated 17 min 20 sec ago
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Israel attacks Iran’s capital with explosions booming across Tehran

  • Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon
  • Iran says civilians killed in the attacks

JERUSALEM: Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran as Israel said it targeted nuclear and military sites.
The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.
Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want — though official there have repeatedly warned it could build them. The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube thacivt the attacks will continue “for as many days at it takes to remove this threat.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement released by the White House.
Rubio also issued a warning to Iran that it should not target US interests or personnel.
People in Tehran awoke to the sound of the blast. State television acknowledged the blast.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit, though smoke could be rising from Chitgar, a neighborhood in western Tehran. There are no known nuclear sites in that area — but it wasn’t immediately clear if anything was happening in the rest of the country.
An Israeli military official says that his country targeted Iranian nuclear sites, without identifying them.
The official spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, which is also targeting military sites.
Benchmark Brent crude spiked on the attack, rising nearly 5 percent on the news.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted.
“In the wake of the state of Israel’s preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately,” he said in a statement.
The statement added that Katz “signed a special order declaring an emergency situation in the home front.”
“It is essential to listen to instructions from the home front command and authorities to stay in protected areas,” it said
Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace.
As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress. It was unclear if he had been informed but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes.
Trump earlier said he was urging Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran.
“As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don’t want them going in because I think it would blow it,” Trump told reporters.


US says airstrike killed Daesh official in Syria

Updated 13 June 2025
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US says airstrike killed Daesh official in Syria

WASHINGTON: The US military announced Thursday that a recent airstrike had killed an Daesh group official in northwest Syria.
In a post to social media, US Central Command  said its forces “conducted a precision airstrike in northwest Syria killing Rakhim Boev, a Syria-based Daesh official,” using another name for Daesh.
The post on X said Boev was “involved in planning external operations threatening US citizens, our partners, and civilians.”
The accompanying image depicts an SUV vehicle with a bashed-in windshield and roof.
AFP previously reported that two people were killed in separate drone strikes Tuesday, on a car and a motorcycle, in the northwestern bastion of the Islamist former rebels who now head the Syrian government.
A call to CENTCOM seeking confirmation that the incidents are related was not immediately returned.
The twin drone strikes in the Idlib region mirror the US-led coalition’s past strikes on jihadists in the area.
During a meeting in Riyadh last month, US President Donald Trump called on his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa to help Washington prevent a resurgence by Daesh.