The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates today condemned Israel blocking efforts by Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem to combat the deadly coronavirus disease, warning that Israel’s measures endanger lives.
It said in a statement that closure of a Palestinian health center in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan yesterday set up specifically to test for corona cases in the neighborhood after discovering dozens of cases and detaining those involved in setting it up under political pretexts have raised serious concern among the city’s vulnerable Palestinian population of not being able to prevent spread of the deadly disease.
The ministry called on the World Health Organization and international human rights organization to intervene and pressure Israel to stop its violations in the occupied city and allow Palestinians to manage the corona crisis there as well in light of Israel’s failure to care after the city’s 350,000 Palestinian population.
Compared to Israel, the Palestinian Authority has succeeded in controlling the disease since early March. With less than 300 cases of coronavirus confirmed in the Palestinian-run areas and two deaths, Israel has over 12,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 124 deaths despite the big gap in their health systems, facilities and financial capabilities.
