COVID-19 numbers continue to surge in the Palestinian Authority, while the number of cases in the Gaza Strip remains low (Updated to July 20, 2020)

Overview

The surge in active COVID-19 cases in Judea and Samaria continues, part of the second wave of the disease. According to reports from the Palestinian ministry of health, there are 6,650 active cases, up from 5,121 a week ago. The ministry of health reported that ten patients are in the ICU and four are on ventilators (as of July 19, 2020). There are 4,810 active cases in the Hebron district, 73% of the overall number. Sixty-five Palestinians have died, most of them in the Hebron district (as of July 20, 2020). The number of cases in east Jerusalem has also spiked, with 1,332 active cases, up from 632 last week, and up from 160 at the beginning of July.

Rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Judea and Samaria

The Current Spread of Coronavirus in Judea and Samaria

• The main developments in the coronavirus outbreak in Judea and Samaria during the past week were the following:
  • The number of active cases continues to surge in all the districts. In some the numbers doubled and in some cases tripled themselves. The Hebron district still clearly has the largest number of cases, but relatively speaking the number declined, from about 80% to 73%. The PA prime minister is of the opinion that the situation will worsen during the coming winter.
  • The number of Palestinians dying from COVID-19 continues to rise (65, up from 41 last week), most of them from the Hebron district.
  • In the wake of the surge in active cases, the Palestinian Authority (PA) government imposed additional restrictions (delaying the beginning of the school year, halting transportation, lockdowns on infection hotspots and a curfew). Most of the district governors claim the surges are caused by weddings and celebrations held after the results of the matriculation exams were published. As a result the Palestinian security services and police are strictly enforcing preventive measures (fining violators, closing businesses and cancelling weddings).
  • The PA territories suffer from a severe shortage of medical equipment, especially ventilators and test key intelligence targets. In addition, the laboratories are backlogged (according to reports, test results are available after five days). There is also a shortage of quarantine centers, especially for refugee camp residents.
  • Many active cases have remained in the refugee camps, and are a source of worry for the PA because the crowded conditions make isolation impossible. The PA has appealed to UNRWA which is responsible for the refugee camps, and asked for help, without significant results so far.
  • The spread of COVID-19 and the increased severity of the restrictions challenge the PA’s governance capabilities. Recently there has been an increase in number of Palestinians who do not obey the public health guidelines or preventive measures, and even protests. That may indicate the lack of faith the public has in the PA and its orders.^[1]
  • Two new active COVID-19 cases were detected in the Gaza Strip, bringing the number to five. Despite the small number, the relevant groups continue preparing for the worst case scenario of a massive outbreak inside Gaza. While Hamas has successfully stopped the spread of the disease so far, the economic situation is worsening with the closing of places of work and increasing unemployment.

The PA continues blaming Israel for its difficulties in dealing with the coronavirus. Israel is accused of delaying the delivery of 100,000 test kits which are in Ben-Gurion International Airport, and the UN was called in to help transfer them to the PA. The PA is also trying to secure the release of a Palestinian terrorist prisoner who was infected with COVID-19 in an Israeli jail, and has launched an international campaign about terrorist prisoners in general. Israel is accused of medical negligence and the Palestinians demand that Israel allow teams from the Red Cross to administer COVID-19 tests to Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and to release the coronavirus prisoner along with elderly, female and underage prisoners.

Geographical Distribution of COVID-19 Epicenters

Overview

• The geographical distribution of active cases by district is the following: of the 6,560 cases, Hebron, 4,810; Bethlehem, 423; Nablus, 113; Ramallah, 485; the villages around Jerusalem, 405; Tulkarm, four; Jericho, 98; Qalqilya, 100; Jenin, 36; Salfit, 21; Tubas, 39.

Distribution of active cases in the PA districts^[2]

Geographical Distribution of COVID-19 Deaths in Judea, Samaria, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip

Hebron district

On July 19, 2020, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the Hebron district was 4,810, up from 4,140 a week ago. The percentage of active cases in the Hebron district is 73% of the overall number in Judea and Samaria.

Rate of the spread of COVID-19 in the Hebron district

• PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh met in Ramallah with Fatah representatives from the Hebron district to update them about the measures the government was taking against the spread of the virus in their district. He said that in the near future the government would send $5.5 million to Hebron hospitals. Shtayyeh also said the government had provided vehicles and added jobs for 100 medical personnel (Ma’an, July 16, 2020). He stressed that the great challenge was dealing with violations and lack of a response from local the residents to the Palestinian government’s orders (Facebook page of Muhammad Shtayyeh, July 17, 2020).
• The preventive security service in Hebron was also recruited to the war on the coronavirus. An officer in the cyber unit of the preventive security service in Hebron, said that given the sharp rise in the number of people infected with the virus, the cyber unit had successfully developed an app to track the movement of active cases through their smart phones and with electronic surveillance. If an active case violates the quarantine order, the app will send a warning. The director of operations in preventive security in Hebron, said the app had been developed in accordance with international standards and with the supervision of legal advisors. He said the app would be used to monitor active cases only when they were quarantined at home and up to a distance of 30 meters from home (Chinese news agency, July 18, 2020).
• Nidal Abu Dukhan, commander of Palestinian national security, donated ten vehicles to hospitals in the Hebron district (Facebook page of Samer al-Sharawi, July 15, 2020). Preventive security officers delivered medical equipment and disinfectants to the head of the local municipality in Taffuh (one of the hotspots of COVID-19 infection) (Facebook page of the Taffuh local municipality, July 15, 2020)

   
Right: The vehicles donated to the Taffuh local municipality (Facebook page of Samer al-Sharawi, July 15, 2020). Left: Medical equipment delivered to Taffuh
(Facebook page of the Taffuh municipality, July 15, 2020).

   
The lockdown in Hebron
(Wafa, July 17, 2020).

Bethlehem district

• In the Bethlehem district there are 423 active COVID-19 cases, up from 335 last week. Following the surge in cases the security services in Bethlehem tightened the lockdown on the district and prevented people from leaving or entering (Ma’an, July 13, 2020).
• Kamel Hamid, the governor of the Bethlehem district, said it had been agreed that another center would be prepared to receive COVID-19 patients should there be a rise in the number of cases (Sawa, July 15, 2020).

     
The Palestinian security services supervise the lockdown of the Bethlehem district
(Ma’an, July 13, 2020).

Nablus district

• In the Nablus district there are 113 active COVID-19 cases, down from 160 last month. The Palestinian ministry of health delivered medical aid to the military hospital in Nablus, including a ventilator and first aid equipment (Facebook page of the Palestinian ministry of health, July 15, 2020).

   
Aid from the ministry of health for the military hospital in Nablus
(Facebook page of the Palestinian ministry of health, July 15, 2020).

• The refugee camps in the district are a source of worry. A temporary lockdown was imposed on the Askar refugee camp to enable preventive medical teams to conduct contact tracing. Civil defense teams disinfected the Balata and Askar refugee camps, as well as several villages (Facebook page of the governor of the Nablus district, July 13, 2020).

   
Disinfecting the Balata refugee camp (right) and villages in the Nablus district (Facebook page of the governor of the Nablus district, July 13, 2020).

• The PA security services and police strictly enforce the lockdown orders. They close businesses that violate the orders and fine residents who do not employ preventive measures (website of the PA police, July 18, 2020). On July 16, 2020, the security services and police closed 213 stores and businesses that violated the 20:00 lockdown (website of the PA police, July 17, 2020). Twenty beauty parlors and hairdressers were closed for having stayed open beyond the permitted time and for not having employed preventive measures (website of the PA police, July 116, 2020).

   
The lockdown in Nablus
(Palestine Online, July 18, 2020).

Ramallah district

The number of active cases in the Ramallah district more than doubled. There are 485 cases, up from 190 last week. Many cases were from the al-Om’ari and Jalazone refugee camps.

• The main worry in the Ramallah district is that the virus will spread in the refugee camps. Layla Ghanem, governor of the Ramallah and al-Bireh district, announced the provision of suitable living quarters for COVID-19 patients in the Jalazone refugee camp after the virus began spreading rapidly and the houses in the camp were unsuitable for home isolation. She added that it was a response to requests from Fatah, the popular committee, the institutions and activists in the camp, and in coordination with the demands of the camp residents (Wafa, July 12, 2020). She met with the chairman of the medical committee in the Jalazone refugee camp to discuss medical needs. She sent medical equipment to the camp and stressed that everyone had to coordinate to protect the residents (Dunia al-Watan, July 16, 2020). The leadership of the al-Om’ari refugee camp announced the closing of the mosques and local stores (Amad, July 18, 2020).

   
Right: Civil defense teams disinfect in the Ramallah district (Wafa, July 13, 2020). Left: Disinfecting the al-Om’ari refugee camp (Palestinian civil defense Facebook page, July 18, 2020).

Qalqilya district

There are 100 active COVID-19 cases in the Qalqilya district, up from ten last week. The governor of the Qalqilya district announced that given the significant rise in the number of infections, he had decided to extend the lockdown of the city of Qalqilya and the village of Jit by 48 hours (Facebook page of the governor of the Qalqilya district, July 18, 2020).

• A meeting of the Qalqilya district emergency medical committee came to the conclusion that new infections were the result of participation in social events (Facebook page of the governor of the Qalqilya district, July 17, 2020). According to Rafi’ Rawajba, the governor of the Qalqilya district, the cause of the high number of infections was the weddings and celebrations held after the publication of the matriculation exam results. Residents were called on to follow the public health guidelines and refrain from attending gatherings (Facebook page of the governor of the Qalqilya district, July 17, 2020).

Jenin district

• There are 36 active COVID-19 cases in the Jenin district, up from seven last week. Akram al-Rajoub, governor of the Jenin district, imposed a five-day lockdown on the town of Kafr Dan after the number of active cases rose to 17 (Facebook page of the governor of the Jenin district, July 18, 2020). During a visit to the town he said the reason for the high number of infections was the weddings and celebrations after the publication of the matriculation exam results (Facebook page of the governor of the Jenin district, July 18, 2020).

   
Lockdown of the town of Kafr Dan
(Wafa Twitter account, July 18, 2020).

• Civil defense teams disinfected villages and towns where active COVID-19 cases were detected (Civil defense Facebook page, July 18, 2020). The police closed stores and businesses that violated the lockdown orders and cancelled four weddings (website of the PA police, July 18, 2020). On July 15, 2020, the police closed 212 stores and businesses that violated the lockdown orders (PA police website, July 15, 2020).

Salfit district

• There are 21 active COVID-19 cases in the Salfit district, up from five last week. Abdallah Kamil, governor of the Salfit district, said he had decided to close the hospital in Salfit after an emergency room doctor tested positive (Sawa, July 17, 2020). The governor ordered a complete lockdown of the village of Rafat after seven cases of COVID-19 were detected (Shehab, July 15, 2020).

Villages around Jerusalem

• There are 405 active COVID-19 cases in the villages around Jerusalem, up from 211 last week. When a number of cases were detected in Bayt Surik, the municipality instructed the residents who had attended a wedding in Deir Amar (northwest of Ramallah) to present themselves at the department of health in Bir Nabala. They were instructed to be tested and sent to self-isolation for 14 days (Facebook page of the Bayt Surik municipality, July 15, 2020).
• Police from the Jerusalem suburbs, representatives of Fatah and representatives from the offices of the governor of the Jerusalem district visited the reception venues in the region and reached an agreement with their managers that they would follow the lockdown orders (website of the PA police, July 15, 2020). A force from the Bidu police station in the Jerusalem suburbs, in collaboration with the Palestinian preventive security forces and the Bayt Surik municipality, disinfected the houses of the residents who were infected with coronavirus. In addition, they closed stores that violated the decisions of the government and the emergency committee (website of the PA police, July 15, 2020). Civil defense teams from the Jerusalem district disinfected the Qalandia refugee camp (Civil defense Facebook page, July 16, 2020).

East Jerusalem

This past week the number of COVID-19 cases in the east Jerusalem neighborhoods surged: according to PA reports, the number of cases in east Jerusalem rose to 1,332, up from 632 last week, and from 160 at the beginning of July 2020. According to the Palestinian ministry of health, the total number of cases in east Jerusalem since the outbreak of the disease is 1,512.

Active cases in the east Jerusalem neighborhoods
(since the end of May 2020)

Total number of COVID-19 cases in east Jerusalem
(since the end of May 2020)

• A meeting was held in Ramallah chaired by Muhammad Shtayyeh to discuss how to help Jerusalem and its residents. The possibility was raised of giving money to store owners in the Old City and to hospitals in east Jerusalem suffering as a result of the coronavirus crisis (Wafa, July 15, 2020).

Stricter PA Preventive Measures

PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh met with a delegation of representatives from the districts and the minister of the judiciary. Muhammad Shtayyeh told them that the public health situation in all the districts was very bad, adding according to projections would worsen during the winter. He said it had been decided to postpone the opening of the school year to September 6, 2020 to reevaluate the situation. He gave an update on the situation in Hebron, noting the district’s requirements, adding that given the cessation of security cooperation with Israel, the PA was in contact with the UN [probably in reference to the supervision of the crossings]. He said the greatest threat to success in dealing with the virus was the residents’ violations of the public health guidelines (Wafa, July 6, 2020).

• Ibrahim Melhem, PA government spokesman, held a press conference where he announced a series of measures that will be strictly enforced:
  • There will be no movement [of vehicles] between districts for a week, while commercial movement will continue.
  • Neighborhoods with active COVID-19 cases will be locked down in the cities, villages and refugee camps.
  • The movement of vehicles will stop between 20:00 and 06:00 in all districts.
  • There will be no movement [of vehicles] between districts on weekends.
  • There will be no weddings or celebrations, no mourning tents will be erected, and gatherings are banned.
  • Kindergartens will be closed, as will be gyms, beauty parlors, swimming pools, places of entertainment.
  • Restaurant operations will be limited to take-out service.

Medical Equipment

• Muhammad Shtayyeh said the Islamic Development Bank had agreed to the PA government request to meet the medical needs of the public health sector in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis with $5.5 million, transferred through the al-Aqsa Fund. The PA ministry of health sent the bank lists of its needs so it could begin issuing tenders for the supply of ventilators, medical equipment and drugs. In the meantime the bank said it would give $25 million in low-interest loans to small and medium-sized projects and businesses that had suffered financially because of the coronavirus (Wafa, July 16, 2020).
• Mai al-Kayla, the Palestinian minister of health, met with district governors and directors of district departments of health. She said the preparedness of the medical centers had to be increased to treat COVID-19 patients, because the spread of the disease necessitated ventilators and other medical equipment. She added that there were 50,000 test kits in Jordan and 100,000 at Ben-Gurion International Airport that had been purchased on the world market. She added that the ministry of health does not transfer into PA territory because security cooperation with Israel stopped (Wafa, July 15, 2020). According to Muhammad Shtayyeh, in the near future Germany will send 50 ventilators to the PA, most of which will go to Hebron (Wafa, July 16, 2020).
• Usama al-Najar, director of medical services in the ministry of health, said that because of the backlog of tests, results would only be available five days after the test was given. He said residents should stop complaining about the medical teams, which, he said, were working day and night (Ma’an, July 16, 2020). He added that the ministry of health had five laboratories which could handle between 5,000 and 8,000 tests a day. Two others were being set up, one in Jericho and one in Tulkarm. Since the beginning of the pandemic, he said, 200,000 tests had been conducted (Sawa, July 19, 2020).
• Kamal al-Shakhra, spokesman for the Palestinian ministry of health, said a center was being prepared at al-Nuwaimeh in Jericho for all the COVID-19 patients who could not self-isolate at home.

Requests for Support by Different Sectors

• Azzam al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, met with the head of the office of commerce and industry in the Ramallah and al-Bireh district and with representatives of the office of commerce, industry and agriculture. They presented requests prompted by the difficult economic situation and the coronavirus crisis. Their requests included spreading out payments and exemption from fees for cashing checks, postponing payment dates and giving low-interest loans to small businesses (Sawa, July 19 2020)
• The Palestinian teachers’ union in Ramallah threatened to disrupt the opening of the school year, saying teachers would not report for work if the government did not promise to reimburse them for the money they lost in fees the banks charged for checks that bounced and the non-payment of salaries (Ultrapal, July 19, 2020).

Palestinians Return to the PA from Abroad

• Despite the surge in infections, Palestinians continue returning to Judea and Samaria from around the globe. According to Da’ud al-Dik, PA deputy foreign minister, so far the PA has brought Palestinians back from 83 countries in 31 flights. He said a total of 18,008 Palestinians had returned to the West Bank and Gaza Strip (al-Quds, July 19, 2020). He said bringing stranded Palestinians back to the Gaza Strip still met with problems and that the Palestinian side was waiting for an answer from Egypt. He added that on July 16, 2020, 302 Palestinians came from Jordan and that the return of more Palestinians during the COVID-19 crisis would be coordinated through nine flights.^[3] Palestinians returning for family, professional and educational reasons would be abroad the flights (Filastin al-Yawm, July 16, 2020). The foreign ministry announced on that on August 2, 2020, a flight would leave Chicago for Palestinians stranded in the United States (Wafa, July 17, 2020).

Blaming Israel

• Ibrahim Ramadan, governor of the Nablus district, and Mai al-Kayla, Palestinian ministry of health held April where they accused Israel of delaying the delivery of 100,000 test kits from Ben-Gurion International Airport. They expressed surprise that Israel would delay the delivery and said that UN agencies were working to deliver the tests from Israel to the PA as quickly as possible (Facebook page of the Palestinian ministry of health, July 15, 2020).
• The PA is trying to secure the release of Kamal Abu Wa’er, the Palestinian terrorist who was infected by COVID-19 in an Israeli jail, and is exploiting the opportunity to raise the issue of the release of Palestinian terrorist prisoners in general. Mahmoud Abbas spoke with the prisoner’s father and told him he had sent all the senior figures an order to launch an international campaign to exert pressure on Israel to allow him to receive proper treatment and to release him (Wafa, July 15, 2020). Mai al-Kayla, Palestinian minister of health, said her ministry was waiting for an answer from the Red Cross about finding a way to allow Palestinian medical teams to test prisoners on Israeli jails for COVID-19 (Wafa, July 16, 2020).
• Mahmoud Abbas instructed Saeb Erekat, secretary of the PLO’s Executive Committee, to send communiqués to the UN Secretary General, the office of the head of the UN Human Rights Council, the head of the delegation of the International Red Cross Committee, the foreign ministers of Russia, China, the EU and Britain, the secretary general of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. He called on them to exert pressure on Israel to release Kamal Abu Wa’er and the other sick, elderly, female and underage prisoners, and to renew the call to send an international delegation to investigate the situation in Israeli prisons. He claimed the situation was dangerous because of the spread of the coronavirus and condemned Israel’s alleged medical negligence in the jails (Wafa, July 18, 2020).
• Omar Awadallah, head of public administration for UN human rights organizations in the PA foreign ministry, said that in accordance with an order from Mahmoud Abbas they had begun international activity on the issue. He said a request would be sent to the W.H.O. to appoint a commission to investigate the health of prisoners and incarceration conditions, and to raise the issue in the UN Human Rights Council (Wafa, July 16, 2020).

The Gaza Strip

The extent of the infection

On July 19, 2020, the ministry of health in Gaza said two new COVID-19 cases had been detected (for the first time since July 10, 2020). They were two Palestinians who returned to the Gaza Strip through the Beit Hanoun Crossing [i.e., the Erez Crossing[, and they were currently in a quarantine center. That brought the total number of COVID-19 cases in the Gaza Strip to 74, five of them active. The ministry of health reported that 68 cases had recovered and there had been one death (Twitter account of the ministry of health in Gaza, July 19, 2020).

• Before the detection of the two cases, the ministry of health reported that as of July 19, 2020, 13,444 COVID-19 tests had been conducted in Gaza, 13,372 of which were negative. There are 268 people currently in quarantine centers in the Gaza Strip (Twitter account of the ministry of health in Gaza, July 19, 2020).
• The ministry of health published a report about its functioning during the COVID-19 crisis. According to the report, at the beginning of February 2020 the ministry began preparing for the possibility of an outbreak inside the Gaza Strip. On February 2, 2020, the ministry established the first committee to monitor the issue (Twitter account of the ministry of health in Gaza, July 12, 2020). [Note: The first two cases of COVID-19 were detected in the Gaza Strip on March 22, 2020).

Preparations for a worst case scenario

• Despite the small number of active cases, preparations continue for the scenario of an outbreak of the virus inside Gaza. The ministry of the interior and the ministry of health held a simulation drill of the detection of an active COVID-19 case in one of the crowded neighborhoods of Gaza City. A lockdown as imposed, the city was divided into sections, stores and businesses were closed and prayers in the mosques were cancelled (Palinfo, July 18, 2020). Iyad al-Buzum, spokesman for the ministry of the interior in Gaza, said the police, security services and other relevant agencies all participated in the drill. He said they were preparing for a worst case scenario, raising the level of preparedness and investing great effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the Gaza Strip (al-Aqsa, July 18, 2020).

     
The drill in Gaza City
(website of the ministry of health in Gaza, July 19, 2020).

• Majdi Dehair, director of the department of preventive medicine in the ministry of health in Gaza, reported the construction of a quarantine center in Deir al-Balah, for Palestinians returning to the Gaza Strip in the near future. The project is being funded by the government administration in Gaza and will include between 300 and 350 isolation rooms. He said he expects the construction to be completed by the end of July (qudsnet.com, July 15, 2020). Naji Sirhan, deputy minister for public works and housing, said the government administration in Gaza had decided to construct the quarantine center in Deir al-Balah because the new school year was approaching and some of the schools were being used as quarantine centers (al-Andalou News, July 16, 2020).

Aid for the Gaza Strip

• The Gaza Strip continues receiving aid to deal with COVID-19. The W.H.O. sent test kits sufficient for almost 8,000 people, funded by the Austrian Development Agency (Facebook page of the W.H.O. director in the territories, July 13, 2020). The French Médecins du monde (MdM), with the aid of the W.H.O., sent the Palestinian Red Crescent medical equipment (Facebook page of the W.H.O. director in the territories, July 16, 2020).

   
Right: Delivering test kits (Facebook page of the W.H.O. director in the territories, July 13, 2020). Left: Aid for the Palestinian Red Crescent (Facebook page of the W.H.O. director in the territories, July 16, 2020).

The financial situation in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis

• Sami al-Amasi, chairman of the General Federation of Trade Unions, said been laid off since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. He added that 50 workshops had closed. He said the financial situation in Gaza makes it impossible for those who had been fired to find work (QudsN, July 19, 2020).

^[1] For further information, see the July 20, 2020 bulletin, "Increased violations of public health guidelines and protests against Palestinian Authority during the second coronavirus wave." ↑
^[2] On July 12, 2020, the Palestinian minister of health again published the distribution of coronavirus patients according to district, after a number of days during which no statistics were issued. ↑
^[3] Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian foreign minister, said, regarding the opening of the Allenby Bridge for Palestinians stranded abroad, that Jordan had been dealing with the issue ever since the PA had decided to stop cooperating with Israel. He said Jordan updated the Palestinians about the results of contacts with Israel regarding returning Palestinians (Palestinian TV, July 19, 2020). ↑

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