Bi-Weekly Brief for September 7, 2020
Covid-19 cases soar as conditions in Gaza deteriorate
According to Haaretz (Sept. 6), Israel’s cases have exceeded 128,000 (26,232 of them active) with 1,010 deaths, while the West Bank has 9,792 active cases and 185 deaths. On Sept. 6, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported 969 cases in Gaza (873 of them active) and 7 deaths, and urged Israel to permit the entry of urgently-needed respiratory and intensive care equipment, medicines, PEP and cleaning supplies. Gaza has been largely under curfew since ‘community spread’ of the virus was detected in late August. During a searing heat wave, residents have been shut in crowded homes without clean water, with minimal food and only 4 – 8 hours of electricity a day. On Sept. 1, a candle used during a power outage set a house in al-Nuseirat refugee camp on fire, burning to death three children, aged 6, 5 and 3.
Qatar brokers ‘no missiles for no balloons’ truce
On August 31, Israel agreed to cease its nightly missile attacks on Gaza and to permit the entry of fuel blocked in response to Gaza’s incendiary balloons. As part of the deal, Qatar said it would give Gaza emergency aid for needy families.
Israel woos Arab world while Palestinians seek elusive unity
Also on August 31, Saudi Arabia allowed an El Al plane carrying Israeli and US officials to cross its air space en route to the UAE to consolidate the new ‘normalization’ deal. Under fire from the Israeli public, Netanyahu denied a Sept. 4th New York Times report that he consented to the US sale of F35 fighter jets and other advanced weapons to the UAE. As other countries were being urged by the US to ‘normalize’ with Israel, Palestinian factions met via video conference on Sept. 3 in an attempt to surmount their deep divisions. There was no sign that they succeeded in doing so (Al Monitor, Sept. 4).
Undeterred by Covid-19 Israel continues to brutalize West Bank residents
Israelis’ ongoing weekly protests against Netanyahu’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis ignore the brutal scene unfolding daily in the occupied West Bank. There have been at least 70 army raids over the last 2 weeks, including an Aug. 27 attack on the al-Fawwar refugee camp where a family was severely beaten and its money stolen. On Sept. 6, two brothers were critically injured in the Jenin refugee camp when soldiers blew up the door of their house. A sound bomb penetrated a Hebron hospital during an army raid on Aug. 30, forcing the evacuation of Covid-19 patients. Demonstrators against land expropriation have been subjected to live ammunition, tear gas and sound bombs, and a picture taken of a Sept. 1st protest in the village of Shufa near Tulkarem shows 65-year-old Khari Hannoun pinned on the ground with a soldier’s knee on his neck.
Water Fact
Israel completely closed off the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza’s fisherman from August 16 to September 1. Twenty years ago there were 10,000 registered fisherman in Gaza and now there are only 3,700, 95 % of whom live below the poverty line.
See Wafa News Agency and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights
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