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Gaza to send doctors to help face West Bank tackle coronavirus

July 7, 2020 at 3:39 pm

COVID-19 tests are being carried out at the Central Laboratory of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the city of Ramallah, West Bank on March 16, 2020. The total number of coronavirus cases in West Bank climbed to 39. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]

The Palestinian Minister of Health in the besieged Gaza Strip has today decided to dispatch a team of doctors to the occupied West Bank to help fight the coronavirus.

In a press release, a copy of which sent to MEMO, Deputy Health Minister in Gaza Dr Yousef Abu Al-Rish said: “A well-qualified team of physicians are preparing to travel to the West Bank to help their colleagues fight the coronavirus.”

The “different challenges make it necessary for us to stand united against the pandemic,” he continued.

This came after a sharp rise of the number of coronavirus cases in the occupied West Bank, particularly in occupied Hebron.

Israel reimposes restrictions after COVID-19 spike

In the last 24 hours, 306 new cases of coronavirus have been registered in the occupied West Bank, including 278 in Hebron alone.

Meanwhile, Gaza has not recorded any new cases for more than three weeks.

While Gaza has started to ease the lockdown, the West Bank reinstated a stricter lockdown in several provinces yesterday, blaming the hike in numbers on Israel’s weak measures to restrict movement.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai Kila, who runs the ministry in the West Bank, said: “We are doing our best to fight the coronavirus.”