26 mar 2020
Palestine has a real shortage in coronavirus detecting equipment and urges world governments to provide it with this kit, today said government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem.
“We are facing a shortage in the coronavirus detecting kit,” said Milhem in his daily briefing on the deadly disease in Palestine. “We are in touch with everyone to provide us with this kit.”
Milhem was joined in this appeal by Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the Palestinian Authority’s Civil Affairs department and member of Fatah Central Committee, who said in a tweet today that President Mahmoud Abbas gave instructions to medical and other authorities to reach out to countries around the world to provide Palestine with this equipment due to its serious shortage here.
Milhem also said that Palestinians working in Israel who return to their homes were the main reason for the recent rise in the coronavirus cases in Palestine and therefore strict measures will be taken to close this gap.
He said the 15 cases confirmed over the last two days in the village of Biddo, northwest of Jerusalem, where a woman was the first Palestinian fatality of this disease, resulted from the sons of the woman who work in Israel.
The government spokesman said the total number of cases in Palestine stands today at 84, correcting an earlier figure of 86.
Of the total, nine are in the Gaza Strip, including seven who were confirmed positive early this morning, all for people who came in contact at the Gaza quarantine center with the two confirmed cases held there.
A total of 17 cases in Bethlehem have recovered and were sent to home quarantine for 14 days, said Milhem.
“We are facing a shortage in the coronavirus detecting kit,” said Milhem in his daily briefing on the deadly disease in Palestine. “We are in touch with everyone to provide us with this kit.”
Milhem was joined in this appeal by Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the Palestinian Authority’s Civil Affairs department and member of Fatah Central Committee, who said in a tweet today that President Mahmoud Abbas gave instructions to medical and other authorities to reach out to countries around the world to provide Palestine with this equipment due to its serious shortage here.
Milhem also said that Palestinians working in Israel who return to their homes were the main reason for the recent rise in the coronavirus cases in Palestine and therefore strict measures will be taken to close this gap.
He said the 15 cases confirmed over the last two days in the village of Biddo, northwest of Jerusalem, where a woman was the first Palestinian fatality of this disease, resulted from the sons of the woman who work in Israel.
The government spokesman said the total number of cases in Palestine stands today at 84, correcting an earlier figure of 86.
Of the total, nine are in the Gaza Strip, including seven who were confirmed positive early this morning, all for people who came in contact at the Gaza quarantine center with the two confirmed cases held there.
A total of 17 cases in Bethlehem have recovered and were sent to home quarantine for 14 days, said Milhem.
Thirteen new cases of coronavirus were confirmed this morning in the village of Biddo, northwest of Jerusalem, according to the government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem, bringing total in Palestine to 86.
He told WAFA that tests on several people who were in contact with a village woman, who died yesterday of coronavirus, confirmed 13 new infected cases, which brings the number of the infected in that village of 18, including the dead woman.
Milhem had also told Palestine TV this morning that one of Biddo infected people was first admitted to Ramallah hospital before he was tested positive and therefore all doctors and nurses at the hospital who came in contract with him, a total of 20, have been isolated and are being tested for the virus.
Of the 86 total in Palestine, nine are in the Gaza Strip, including seven who were confirmed positive early this morning, all for people who came in contact at the Gaza quarantine center with the two confirmed cases held there.
A total of 17 cases in Bethlehem have recovered and were sent to home quarantine for 14 days.
Ministry: Seven new coronavirus cases detected in Gaza
The ministry of health has announced that seven new coronavirus cases were detected in Gaza Strip.
The ministry said in a terse statement late Wednesday that the new persons affected with the virus had mingled with the first two cases in Gaza detected last Sunday.
It pointed out that the seven new cases were all security personnel who were at the quarantine and still are there and did not leave or mix with anyone else.
The statement noted that no corona victims were reported in the besieged enclave.
The number of corona-infected cases in Gaza has thus reached nine.
He told WAFA that tests on several people who were in contact with a village woman, who died yesterday of coronavirus, confirmed 13 new infected cases, which brings the number of the infected in that village of 18, including the dead woman.
Milhem had also told Palestine TV this morning that one of Biddo infected people was first admitted to Ramallah hospital before he was tested positive and therefore all doctors and nurses at the hospital who came in contract with him, a total of 20, have been isolated and are being tested for the virus.
Of the 86 total in Palestine, nine are in the Gaza Strip, including seven who were confirmed positive early this morning, all for people who came in contact at the Gaza quarantine center with the two confirmed cases held there.
A total of 17 cases in Bethlehem have recovered and were sent to home quarantine for 14 days.
Ministry: Seven new coronavirus cases detected in Gaza
The ministry of health has announced that seven new coronavirus cases were detected in Gaza Strip.
The ministry said in a terse statement late Wednesday that the new persons affected with the virus had mingled with the first two cases in Gaza detected last Sunday.
It pointed out that the seven new cases were all security personnel who were at the quarantine and still are there and did not leave or mix with anyone else.
The statement noted that no corona victims were reported in the besieged enclave.
The number of corona-infected cases in Gaza has thus reached nine.
25 mar 2020
Hospitals all over the western world are bracing for a tsunami of intensely ill patients suffering from breathing difficulties due to the Coronavirus.
In Britain, car companies are scrambling to produce ventilators. Plans are being laid for the army to build hospitals in conference centers. In Ontario, Canada, wards are being cleared, plans are being laid, models of infection are being scrutinized. If 70 percent of the population does not cut its social engagement by 70 percent, locking down will not work. Nerves are jangling.
Breaking point
So what do you think it is like in Gaza? This is not a question heard often these days, when Palestinians have been dropped off the international agenda, either as refugees or as people.
What do you think the prospect is for a besieged enclave that has 56 ventilators and 40 intensive care beds for a population of two million?
By comparison, according to figures from the OECD, Germany has 29.2 ICU beds per 100,000; Belgium 22; Italy 12.5; France 11.6, and the UK six and a half. Gaza has two.
Everywhere, medics are asking themselves whether they will be brought to their knees by Covid-19. They don’t ask themselves that question in Gaza. The health system there already is on its knees - by design. It passes for normality. It does not make the news. The international community scrambles with sticking plaster relief.
This has been the reality for the past 13 years. No conflict in that time was complete without a warning that the health system in Gaza was on the point of collapse.
In June 2018, at the start of a year when Israeli soldiers killed 195 Palestinians and injured nearly 29,000 people on the Great March of Return, UN experts said that healthcare in Gaza was "at breaking point".
Acts of cruelty
During the war in 2014, hospitals such as Al-Aqsa in Deir al-Balah or al-Wafa in Shujaiyyeh were the target itself of Israeli shelling. Ambulances too were deliberately fired on by Israel. But this is what happens day in day out, acts of cruelty which never make the headlines that define who lives and who dies in Gaza.
Think about what happened to Muna Awad at the Erez Crossing in May last year. Muna had to hand over her gravely ill five-year old daughter Aisha to a woman she had never seen to get medical treatment in East Jerusalem. Aisha had been diagnosed with brain cancer, which could not be treated in the specialist hospital in Gaza.
Neither Muna nor her husband Wissam was allowed to travel with their daughter. Even Aisha’s grandmother, who was 75 (Israel refuses entrance to women under the age of 45 and men under 55), was refused entry.
Erez was the last time her mother saw Aisha conscious. The little girl had several operations in East Jerusalem but returned in a coma and never came out of it. She died in Gaza. Her case is not unique.
Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, in Gaza, documented 25,658 Palestinians who applied for permits to seek medical treatment outside the enclave in 2018. Of that number, Israeli authorities delayed processing or rejected outright 9,832 applications - some 38 percent of cases.
If you want to know what collective punishment feels like in Gaza, try getting sick.
To retrieve the body of one of its soldiers, Hadar Golden, who was killed in combat in 2014, Israel reduced the number of entry permits from Gaza. The campaign was led by Golden’s family. There was an op-ed article in the Washington Post. And the government acted on it.
Figures supplied to Haaretz by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories showed that in the first half of 2018, Israel refused permission to 769 Palestinians seeking to leave Gaza for Israel because they were “first-degree relatives of a Hamas activist.”
So who holds the key to a medical collapse in Gaza? Israel.
Medical collapse
This is why the Ministry of Health in Gaza called on the international community to compel Israel to remove the blockade amid an acute shortage in ventilators, ICU beds, medicine and protective equipment.
And this is why the international community should now listen. Majdi Duhair, director of preventive medicine at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, told MEE that the biggest difficulty they faced was their ability to scale up ICU beds.
Given the shortage that exists, they only have 26 free ICU beds to deal with the spread of Covid-19.
"This is the biggest dilemma we face, all that is available is 65 beds of intensive care between children and adults, and this number is sufficient for normal and routine cases, and we need this number. There are six beds in the field hospital, and there are 18-20 beds in all places to deal with the spread of corona," Duhair said.
He added: “We are doing crew training, but this number is not sufficient. No new staff has been hired, the problem is there are volunteers, but the employment potential is limited, and existing employees receive 40-50 percent of their salaries."
Gaza has suffered enough. No-one can just sit on the sidelines and watch this happen. Israel has to be told to lift the siege or suffer the consequences of sanctions and isolation itself.
This is an obscenity - one of many in the Middle East - that no western government can afford to maintain.
- David Hearst is the editor in chief of Middle East Eye. He left The Guardian as its chief foreign leader writer.
In Britain, car companies are scrambling to produce ventilators. Plans are being laid for the army to build hospitals in conference centers. In Ontario, Canada, wards are being cleared, plans are being laid, models of infection are being scrutinized. If 70 percent of the population does not cut its social engagement by 70 percent, locking down will not work. Nerves are jangling.
Breaking point
So what do you think it is like in Gaza? This is not a question heard often these days, when Palestinians have been dropped off the international agenda, either as refugees or as people.
What do you think the prospect is for a besieged enclave that has 56 ventilators and 40 intensive care beds for a population of two million?
By comparison, according to figures from the OECD, Germany has 29.2 ICU beds per 100,000; Belgium 22; Italy 12.5; France 11.6, and the UK six and a half. Gaza has two.
Everywhere, medics are asking themselves whether they will be brought to their knees by Covid-19. They don’t ask themselves that question in Gaza. The health system there already is on its knees - by design. It passes for normality. It does not make the news. The international community scrambles with sticking plaster relief.
This has been the reality for the past 13 years. No conflict in that time was complete without a warning that the health system in Gaza was on the point of collapse.
In June 2018, at the start of a year when Israeli soldiers killed 195 Palestinians and injured nearly 29,000 people on the Great March of Return, UN experts said that healthcare in Gaza was "at breaking point".
Acts of cruelty
During the war in 2014, hospitals such as Al-Aqsa in Deir al-Balah or al-Wafa in Shujaiyyeh were the target itself of Israeli shelling. Ambulances too were deliberately fired on by Israel. But this is what happens day in day out, acts of cruelty which never make the headlines that define who lives and who dies in Gaza.
Think about what happened to Muna Awad at the Erez Crossing in May last year. Muna had to hand over her gravely ill five-year old daughter Aisha to a woman she had never seen to get medical treatment in East Jerusalem. Aisha had been diagnosed with brain cancer, which could not be treated in the specialist hospital in Gaza.
Neither Muna nor her husband Wissam was allowed to travel with their daughter. Even Aisha’s grandmother, who was 75 (Israel refuses entrance to women under the age of 45 and men under 55), was refused entry.
Erez was the last time her mother saw Aisha conscious. The little girl had several operations in East Jerusalem but returned in a coma and never came out of it. She died in Gaza. Her case is not unique.
Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, in Gaza, documented 25,658 Palestinians who applied for permits to seek medical treatment outside the enclave in 2018. Of that number, Israeli authorities delayed processing or rejected outright 9,832 applications - some 38 percent of cases.
If you want to know what collective punishment feels like in Gaza, try getting sick.
To retrieve the body of one of its soldiers, Hadar Golden, who was killed in combat in 2014, Israel reduced the number of entry permits from Gaza. The campaign was led by Golden’s family. There was an op-ed article in the Washington Post. And the government acted on it.
Figures supplied to Haaretz by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories showed that in the first half of 2018, Israel refused permission to 769 Palestinians seeking to leave Gaza for Israel because they were “first-degree relatives of a Hamas activist.”
So who holds the key to a medical collapse in Gaza? Israel.
Medical collapse
This is why the Ministry of Health in Gaza called on the international community to compel Israel to remove the blockade amid an acute shortage in ventilators, ICU beds, medicine and protective equipment.
And this is why the international community should now listen. Majdi Duhair, director of preventive medicine at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, told MEE that the biggest difficulty they faced was their ability to scale up ICU beds.
Given the shortage that exists, they only have 26 free ICU beds to deal with the spread of Covid-19.
"This is the biggest dilemma we face, all that is available is 65 beds of intensive care between children and adults, and this number is sufficient for normal and routine cases, and we need this number. There are six beds in the field hospital, and there are 18-20 beds in all places to deal with the spread of corona," Duhair said.
He added: “We are doing crew training, but this number is not sufficient. No new staff has been hired, the problem is there are volunteers, but the employment potential is limited, and existing employees receive 40-50 percent of their salaries."
Gaza has suffered enough. No-one can just sit on the sidelines and watch this happen. Israel has to be told to lift the siege or suffer the consequences of sanctions and isolation itself.
This is an obscenity - one of many in the Middle East - that no western government can afford to maintain.
- David Hearst is the editor in chief of Middle East Eye. He left The Guardian as its chief foreign leader writer.
The first coronavirus-related death was reported in Palestine today as two more cases were also confirmed bringing total to 64, according to government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem.
He said the woman, confirmed last night with coronavirus, from the village of Biddo, near Ramallah, has died. She was in her 60s.
He said the woman suffered serious deterioration in her health this morning and her situation was critical before she was pronounced dead.
The two new cases are the dead woman's daughter and her husband, said Milhem, as tests are being conducted on the other members of the same family.
Of the 64 coronavirus cases in Palestine, two are in Gaza, while the West Bank cases are concentrated mainly in the Ramallah and Bethlehem areas.
He said the woman, confirmed last night with coronavirus, from the village of Biddo, near Ramallah, has died. She was in her 60s.
He said the woman suffered serious deterioration in her health this morning and her situation was critical before she was pronounced dead.
The two new cases are the dead woman's daughter and her husband, said Milhem, as tests are being conducted on the other members of the same family.
Of the 64 coronavirus cases in Palestine, two are in Gaza, while the West Bank cases are concentrated mainly in the Ramallah and Bethlehem areas.
In light of Israel’s mistreatment and abuse of Palestinians working inside Israel and the rise in the number of Israelis infected with coronavirus, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh yesterday called on all workers to return home and quarantine themselves for 14 days upon their return home.
He said in a statement that the workers should return to their homes for their own safety and in anticipation of severe restriction on movement in Israel in order to contain the deadly disease.
Shtayyeh said that the workers who show any sign of corona symptoms, should report to the nearest health center to their place of residence and abide by the instructions of the local authorities.
The call by the prime minister also came as Israel continued to deport workers who showed signs of illness and often just abandon them at West Bank checkpoints.
Issam Abu Bakr, governor of the northern West Bank district of Tulkarm, said last night that Israel expelled to the West Bank three workers dismissed by their employers after they fell ill and had high fever.
He said the workers were thrown on the Palestinian side of an Israeli army-manned checkpoint near Tulkarm in very weak conditions where they were later picked up by Palestinian ambulances and taken to a quarantine center in the city.
Another worker was earlier left at a West Bank checkpoint after he fell ill. Tests on this worker later showed that he does not have the corona virus.
Israel had said that it would allow thousands of Palestinian workers, mainly in construction, to remain in Israel for at least two months in order to keep the work going.
However, workers have been complaining of bad living conditions and mistreatment by their employers which prompted the Palestinian Authority (PA) to call on them to return home if they so wish. The PA had previously said it would not allow any of the workers to return to the West Bank after they moved to work and stay in Israel.
Israel has reported over 2000 cases of coronavirus and five deaths.
He said in a statement that the workers should return to their homes for their own safety and in anticipation of severe restriction on movement in Israel in order to contain the deadly disease.
Shtayyeh said that the workers who show any sign of corona symptoms, should report to the nearest health center to their place of residence and abide by the instructions of the local authorities.
The call by the prime minister also came as Israel continued to deport workers who showed signs of illness and often just abandon them at West Bank checkpoints.
Issam Abu Bakr, governor of the northern West Bank district of Tulkarm, said last night that Israel expelled to the West Bank three workers dismissed by their employers after they fell ill and had high fever.
He said the workers were thrown on the Palestinian side of an Israeli army-manned checkpoint near Tulkarm in very weak conditions where they were later picked up by Palestinian ambulances and taken to a quarantine center in the city.
Another worker was earlier left at a West Bank checkpoint after he fell ill. Tests on this worker later showed that he does not have the corona virus.
Israel had said that it would allow thousands of Palestinian workers, mainly in construction, to remain in Israel for at least two months in order to keep the work going.
However, workers have been complaining of bad living conditions and mistreatment by their employers which prompted the Palestinian Authority (PA) to call on them to return home if they so wish. The PA had previously said it would not allow any of the workers to return to the West Bank after they moved to work and stay in Israel.
Israel has reported over 2000 cases of coronavirus and five deaths.
24 mar 2020
A new case of coronavirus was confirmed in Ramallah today which brings the total in Palestine to 60, according to government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem.
He said in his daily briefing that the woman, who tested positive, is in her 40s and has returned from the United States.
She lives in Ramallah and that she was placed in a quarantine immediately after her return home and therefore did not mix with anyone.
She was placed at a special facility for corona patients in the town of Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah.
Milhem also said that corona test conducted on a Palestinian worker from the village of Beit Sera, who was left yesterday by Israeli forces at a West Bank checkpoint after he fell sick at his workplace in Israel, has turned out to be negative and therefore the man was transferred to hospital for treatment. video
He said that of the 270 Palestinian students studying in Italy and who were brought home yesterday, seven are from the West Bank while the rest are from inside Israel.
The seven, he said, will be placed in a quarantine in Ramallah after they are brought into the West Bank from Israel and will be tested for coronavirus after their arrival.
Milhem said the corona patients in Bethlehem are all in good health. Of the 40 patients in Bethlehem, 16 have recovered last week and were sent to home quarantine. A 17th person who first was reported recovered has had a relapse and later tests showed that he still has the disease.
While most of the corona infected patients are in the West Bank, only two are in the Gaza Strip.
He said in his daily briefing that the woman, who tested positive, is in her 40s and has returned from the United States.
She lives in Ramallah and that she was placed in a quarantine immediately after her return home and therefore did not mix with anyone.
She was placed at a special facility for corona patients in the town of Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah.
Milhem also said that corona test conducted on a Palestinian worker from the village of Beit Sera, who was left yesterday by Israeli forces at a West Bank checkpoint after he fell sick at his workplace in Israel, has turned out to be negative and therefore the man was transferred to hospital for treatment. video
He said that of the 270 Palestinian students studying in Italy and who were brought home yesterday, seven are from the West Bank while the rest are from inside Israel.
The seven, he said, will be placed in a quarantine in Ramallah after they are brought into the West Bank from Israel and will be tested for coronavirus after their arrival.
Milhem said the corona patients in Bethlehem are all in good health. Of the 40 patients in Bethlehem, 16 have recovered last week and were sent to home quarantine. A 17th person who first was reported recovered has had a relapse and later tests showed that he still has the disease.
While most of the corona infected patients are in the West Bank, only two are in the Gaza Strip.
22 mar 2020
Government's spokesman Ibrahim Milhem announced today that six new cases of the novel COVID-19 (coronavirus) were confirmed today, four in Ramallah and two in the Gaza Strip.
He said at the daily briefing on the coronavirus developments in Palestine that two of the new cases are for two Palestinians who have just returned from Pakistan, and who have been quarantined from the date of their arrival.
Two of the four other cases were confirmed in the village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah, for a woman and her daughter who contracted the disease from a woman who had just returned from Turkey in the village.
The fifth case was for a Palestinian young man who contracted the disease from an infected person in the city of Ramallah, while the sixth was a citizen of Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, who contracted the disease from his wife who has been receiving treatment for coronavirus at an Israeli hospital.
With the recent six, the total number of coronavirus cases in Palestine has reached 59 and include 17 people at Angel Hotel in Bethlehem who have recovered and were sent home on Friday for a 14-day quarantine.
He said at the daily briefing on the coronavirus developments in Palestine that two of the new cases are for two Palestinians who have just returned from Pakistan, and who have been quarantined from the date of their arrival.
Two of the four other cases were confirmed in the village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah, for a woman and her daughter who contracted the disease from a woman who had just returned from Turkey in the village.
The fifth case was for a Palestinian young man who contracted the disease from an infected person in the city of Ramallah, while the sixth was a citizen of Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, who contracted the disease from his wife who has been receiving treatment for coronavirus at an Israeli hospital.
With the recent six, the total number of coronavirus cases in Palestine has reached 59 and include 17 people at Angel Hotel in Bethlehem who have recovered and were sent home on Friday for a 14-day quarantine.
21 mar 2020
Government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem said that there is one new case of Coronavirus in Palestine, bringing the total number of people infected to 53.
In a statement issued tonight, the spokesman said a female student who returned home from Turkey last week via Karama/King Hussein Bridge crossing with Jordan, was tested positive for Coronavirus.
The girl has been in self-quarantine waiting for test results, which came back positive.
She was taken to the treatment center set up in the village of Turmus 'Aya to the west of Ramallah.
He said that six other tests that were taken from the Bethlehem area came back negative.
Seventeen people at Angel Hotel in Bethlehem have recovered and were sent home yesterday to a 14-day quarantine.
Health minister confirms 4 new cases of coronavirus in Palestine, total 52, including 17 cured
Minister of Health Mai Kaileh confirmed today four new cases of coronavirus in Palestine, bringing the total to 52, including the 17 reported cured yesterday.
Kaileh told WAFA that three of the new cases were for Palestinians students from Ramallah who returned home from the United Kingdom and the fourth a physician from Hebron who contracted the disease while working at the Israeli Hadassah Ein Karem hospital.
Most of the infected cases are in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem and its area towns, including the 17 cured cases.
The rest are six in Ramallah, along with the three new cases, two in Tulkarm, two in Nablus, one in Salfit and one in Hebron.
In a statement issued tonight, the spokesman said a female student who returned home from Turkey last week via Karama/King Hussein Bridge crossing with Jordan, was tested positive for Coronavirus.
The girl has been in self-quarantine waiting for test results, which came back positive.
She was taken to the treatment center set up in the village of Turmus 'Aya to the west of Ramallah.
He said that six other tests that were taken from the Bethlehem area came back negative.
Seventeen people at Angel Hotel in Bethlehem have recovered and were sent home yesterday to a 14-day quarantine.
Health minister confirms 4 new cases of coronavirus in Palestine, total 52, including 17 cured
Minister of Health Mai Kaileh confirmed today four new cases of coronavirus in Palestine, bringing the total to 52, including the 17 reported cured yesterday.
Kaileh told WAFA that three of the new cases were for Palestinians students from Ramallah who returned home from the United Kingdom and the fourth a physician from Hebron who contracted the disease while working at the Israeli Hadassah Ein Karem hospital.
Most of the infected cases are in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem and its area towns, including the 17 cured cases.
The rest are six in Ramallah, along with the three new cases, two in Tulkarm, two in Nablus, one in Salfit and one in Hebron.
