Overview News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
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רמה כ ז מל ו תשר מה ו ד י ע י ן ( למ מ" ) כרמ ז מה י ד עד ע מל ו ד י ע י ן ול רט ו ר News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (March 10 – 16, 2021) Overview Coronavirus : In the Gaza Strip there was a moderate increase in the number of active cases. Vaccines donated by the UAE and with the personal involvement of Muhammad Dahlan arrived and Gazans are being vaccinated. In Judea and Samaria the number of active cases continues rising. In light of the increase and the almost total occupancy of the hospitals, a five-day general lockdown was announced. The ministry of health in Ramallah is working to enlarge existing coronavirus wards and to open new ones. In the meantime, the PA continues its efforts to acquire vaccines. Israel continues vaccinating Palestinian day laborers working in its territory. Terrorist attacks: The Gaza Strip has been relatively quiet. In Judea and Samaria Palestinians continue throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israel vehicles and communities. T he Gaza Strip: The ministry of the interior in Gaza announced that according to the results of the investigation into the explosion on the fishing boat off the Khan Yunis coast on March 7, 2021, which killed three fisherman, Israel was responsible for the deaths. During a press conference pieces of the boat and of a quadcopter which was claimed to have caused the explosion were exhibited. Yahya al-Sinwar won a close race in Hamas' internal elections and will serve as head of Hamas' political bureau for four more years. The difficulties accompanying the elections were reflected the dissatisfaction and internal tensions, which were unwillingly exposed by the Hamas movement. After the elections, for the first time, a woman was appointed to the bureau, and Hamas divulged the names of the political bureau members. That may have been done to show Hamas' "democratic spirit" in preparation for the upcoming general Palestinian elections. The Palestinian Authority (PA): Preparations continue for holding the elections, and on March 16, 2021, representatives of the Palestinian organizations met again in Cairo. Mahmoud Abbas ordered that senior Fatah figure Nasser al-Qudwa be removed from his post 046-21 2 after refusing to retract his intention to run on a separate ticket, funding for the Yasser Arafat Foundation, in whose administration al-Qudwa and Yasser Arafat's widow are involved, was cut off. The Prisoners' Affairs Commission is looking for ways to pay the terrorist prisoners and the families of the shaheeds. The Spread of Covid-19 The Gaza Strip In the Gaza Strip this past week there was a moderate rise in coronavirus infection, with 1,259 new cases, up from 925 a week ago. In the 24 hours between March 15 and 16, 298 new cases were detected and 2,130 tests were administered with a positive rate of 14%. There are currently 2,291 active cases, up from 1,901 a week ago. Eighty-six patients are in ICUs, 55 of them on ventilators. The number of coronavirus-related deaths is 568, up from 560 a week ago (Facebook page of the ministry of health in Gaza, March 16, 2021). Dr. Majdi Dheir, director of preventive medicine in the ministry of health in Gaza, said the slight rise in the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients shows they were infected in the second wave, which has a very slow infection rate (Palinfo Twitter account, March 16, 2021). Vaccines Forty thousand doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine were delivered to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing. The vaccines were donated by the UAE, reportedly the result of the efforts of Muhammad Dahlan (Sawa, March 11, 2021). (Dahlan is a former senior Fatah figure and a rival of Mahmoud Abbas; he was expelled from Fatah in 2011.) Following the arrival of the vaccines the ministry of health called on all Gazans over the age of 75 to go to the vaccination centers open throughout the Gaza Strip to be vaccinated. Dr. Ashraf al- Qidra, spokesman for the ministry of health in Gaza, reported that on March 15, 2021 they began administering second shots of the vaccine (Sawa, March 15, 2021). 046-21 3 Right: Vaccines from the UAE arrive in the Gaza Strip (Twitter account of journalist Hassan Aslih, March 11, 2021). Left: Beginning the rounds of the second shot (Twitter account of journalist Hassan Aslih, March 16, 2021). Judea and Samaria This past week the number of active cases in Judea and Samaria continued to climb, with 12,285 new cases. In the 24 hours between March 15 and 16, 1,891 new cases were detected and 7,528 tests were administered with a positive rate of 25.1%. There are currently 19,427 active cases, up from 18,168 a week ago. One hundred eighty-three patients are in ICUs, 54 of them on ventilators. This past week there were 136 coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the number to 1,746. In east Jerusalem there are 1,772 active cases, down from last week. The main epicenter is in the Nablus district (Facebook page of the ministry of health in Ramallah, March 16, 2021). The overall situation According to Dr. Kamal al-Shakhra, spokesman for the ministry of health in Ramallah, the situation is extremely serious, and the Palestinians are now facing a large, previously- unknown and aggressive outbreak of the virus (Facebook page of the ministry of health in Ramallah, March 13, 2021). On another occasion, he said the number of active cases was double the number reported by the ministry of health in Ramallah because many people refused, for personal reasons, to be tested despite the fact they were showing symptoms (Wafa, March 15, 2021). Anan Rashad, a senior figure in the ministry of health, said that many of the people with active cases suffered from very serious symptoms which necessitated urgent medical intervention and that many of the patients were young. According to Usama al-Najar, a member of the coronavirus emergency committee in the ministry of health, 90% of today's cases were infected by the British and South African variants. He said they had recently 046-21 4 received equipment to test for the mutations and the devices had been distributed to seven laboratories. "The first wave, the second wave" (al-Quds, March 12, 2021). The increase in coronavirus infection in Judea and Samaria (According to the ministry of health in Ramallah) 22,000 19,427 20,000 18,168 18,000 16,000 14,703 14,000 12,013 12,000 10,137 12,285 9,688 10,000 7,213 8,000 5,973 6,000 4,894 3,736 2,924 4,000 1,941 2,357 2,000 0 27.1-2.2.2021 9-3.2.2021 16-10.2.2021 23-17.2.2021 24.2-2.3.2021 3-9.3.2021 10-16.3.2021 Active cases New cases 046-21 5 Number of coronavirus-related death (According to the ministry of health in Ramallah) 2,000 1,746 1,750 1,610 1,510 1,404 1,449 1,500 1,326 1,365 1,250 1,000 750 500 250 0 27.1-2.2.2021 9-3.2.2021 16-10.2.2021 23-17.2.2021 24.2-2.3.21 3-9.3.2021 10-16.3.2021 Situation in the hospitals Mai al-Kayla, PA minister of health, said the hospitals in all the districts had reached between 90% and 100% capacity, and 48% of the ventilators were in use. Given the difficult situation in the hospitals, the ministry of health is currently working to enlarge the existing coronavirus wards and has demanded that all the private hospitals open coronavirus wards (Wafa, March 14, 2021). At the weekly government meeting PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh reported that existing coronavirus wards had been enlarged and the hospital medical staffs had been increased (Wafa, March 15, 2021). Dr. Kamal al-Shakhra said the Palestinian health system had not collapsed and was completely competent. He denied rumors of a shortage of oxygen in the hospitals (Wafa, March 15, 2021). The ministry of health in Ramallah reported that all the hospitals in the PA had backup from reserve oxygen stations, and not one coronavirus-related death had been reported as caused a shortage of oxygen. The ministry threated that legal action would be taken against anyone who spread false information on the social networks regarding a shortage of oxygen (Wafa, March 15, 2021). Note: That happened after seven coronavirus patients in Jordan died because of a shortage of oxygen. 046-21 6 The PA minister of health opens a new ICU in the Ishtarshi Arab Hospital in Ramallah (Facebook page of the ministry of health in Ramallah, March 14, 2021). Renewal of the lockdown Given the rise in infection and the situation in the hospitals, PA spokesman Ibrahim Melhem announced a series of measures that would go into force on March 15, 2021 (Wafa, March 13, 2021): A five-day full general lockdown would be imposed on all the districts. Passage from district to district and movement within the districts was banned with the exception of medical staff. The entire education system would close down. The ministers would be responsible for how work was carried out in their ministries. Banks and courts would work with skeleton crews. Emergency services would continue operating. The various district governors had received the authority to decide about the opening of vital sectors. The private hospitals would have to allocate wards for coronavirus patients.