Fearing Gaza virus spread, Hamas preps for mass quarantines

In this Thursday, March 19, 2020 file photo, workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus, at the main market in Gaza City. (AP)
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Updated 31 March 2020
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Fearing Gaza virus spread, Hamas preps for mass quarantines

  • Gaza Health Ministry says more than $20 million urgently needed to support the shattered health system
  • Gaza's people live mainly in densely populated cities and refugee camps

GAZA CITY: When Nima Amraa returned to the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt earlier this month, she was surprised to learn she was being placed in a makeshift quarantine center set up by the ruling Hamas group.
But her initial jitters turned to fear when two fellow travelers in another facility tested positive for the coronavirus — the first cases to be confirmed in Gaza.
“Once there were cases of the virus spreading, we started to feel afraid and disappointed,” Amraa, a 30-year-old journalist, said by phone from quarantine, where she has spent a week and a half sleeping in a room with five other women and sharing a bathroom.
The virus found a way into Gaza, even though the Mediterranean enclave has been largely cut off from the world by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas militants seized it 13 years ago.
On Monday, the Health Ministry said a new case was confirmed among the quarantined, bringing the total to 10. It added all of them were in good condition and receiving care at a special field hospital.
Yet the terrifying possibility of an outbreak in one of the world's most crowded territories — 2 million people squeezed into an area twice the size of Washington, D.C. —does not seem to have registered fully. Many in Gaza seem to accept Hamas assurances that the threat is contained.
In the meantime, Hamas is racing to build two massive quarantine facilities — hoping to prevent the disease from spreading and overwhelming Gaza's already shattered health system.
The construction was ordered after photos surfaced from makeshift centers — mostly schools — showing people celebrating birthday parties with visiting relatives, food being delivered by volunteers and groups of people smoking water pipes together.
Amraa said it was immediately clear that the school where she was placed was not prepared to house so many people.
“I was worried after seeing that we will sleep on mattresses on the floor and we will be six in one room,” she explained. “We eat together and there is no isolation.”
She said she and her roommates take precautions, such as avoiding direct contact and keeping their beds two meters apart from each other. But that might not be enough to keep the virus from spreading. Last week, seven Hamas security guards who were in the facility housing the first two cases became infected themselves.
“We have been very clear on how the quarantine facilities should look like and offer in terms of facilities and services and support,” said Dr. Gerald Rockenschaub, the World Health Organization’s director in the Palestinian territories. “But this is obviously easier said than done in Gaza, where there is substantial shortage in almost everything.”
Although movement in and out of Gaza has been heavily restricted since 2007, it is not cut off altogether. The first two virus cases were men who had returned from a religious conference in Pakistan, part of a wave of hundreds of returnees who were placed into quarantine.
No one knows how much farther the virus has spread. Only 20% of the roughly 1,700 people in quarantine have been tested.
Gaza's people live mainly in densely populated cities and refugee camps. The health care system is in shambles — a result of the blockade, three wars between Hamas and Israel and chronic under-funding due to infighting between Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Gaza has only 60 breathing machines — and all but 15 are already in use, according to the WHO. The agency has been assisting local health officials and has been working with Israeli authorities, who have no direct contact with Hamas, to import desperately needed equipment and supplies from international donors.
Most people infected by the virus experience only mild symptoms, such as fever and cough, and recover within a few weeks. But the virus can cause severe illness and death, particularly in older patients or those with underlying health problems. High rates of obesity, smoking and stress-related disorders appear to make Gaza’s population especially vulnerable.
Hamas has sought to beef up its quarantine efforts in recent days, opening 18 additional facilities in clinics and hotels and declaring them off-limits. It also has banned weekly street markets and shut down wedding halls, cafes and mosques and extended quarantine periods by a week.
After seeing images of the makeshift facilities, Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, ordered the group’s military wing to build two new quarantine centers.
Situated on the territory’s northern and southern borders, they will be able to hold 1,000 people. The group expects them to be ready within a week.
The public seems to have been calmed by Health Ministry claims that all virus patients are held in quarantine centers. Despite the shutdown orders, people still walk the streets and congregate around small coffee kiosks and noodle shops.
That could change if cases begin to spread.
Last Friday, the crew for a Turkish TV station caused a panic after entering the field hospital where the nine infected people are being treated. The crew subsequently left the facility and broadcast a report the next day. Hamas quickly put the crew members into quarantine and suspended the head of its media office for allowing them access to the facility.
Elsewhere, people still held wedding parties in their homes after wedding halls closed.
Dr. Yahia Abed, an epidemiologist, said the public's apparent lack of commitment to safety precautions is worrisome and that anyone who might have been exposed to the virus must go into full and enforceable isolation.
“If, God forbid, people hid the fact that they had contact with the infected, this will be very dangerous for an area like Gaza. The epidemic will spread,” said Abed, a public health professor at Al-Quds university near Jerusalem.
One factor in the small number of cases so far could be the lack of testing.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian issues, said it has coordinated the delivery of hundreds of coronavirus testing kits by the World Health Organization, as well as protective equipment, medicine and disinfectant.
Israel, along with most Western nations, considers Hamas a terrorist group. But it likely fears the fallout from a catastrophic outbreak would spill over the frontier.
Qatar, which provides extensive humanitarian aid to Gaza, has also stepped in, pledging $150 million in aid and providing furniture, clothes and electrical appliances for the quarantine centers.
The Gaza Health Ministry says it urgently needs more than $20 million to stave off the collapse of the health system if there is a major outbreak.
Rockenschaub said there's still time to improve quarantine procedures in Gaza. “The issue is to move quickly and mobilize support to get them on the way to meet the right international standards,” he said.


Gaza civil defense says Israeli forces kill 28 people

Updated 26 July 2025
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Gaza civil defense says Israeli forces kill 28 people

  • The toll includes at least eight people killed by Israeli fire while waiting to collect humanitarian aid, Bassal said

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli military operations killed at least 23 people on Friday across the Palestinian territory, with another five killed in an overnight air strike.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed in a strike on Gaza City that hit a school building sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war, now in its 22nd month.
Bassal said five others were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent used by displaced Palestinians also in Gaza City, in the territory’s north.
The Israeli military said that strike was carried out late Thursday, targeting “a key terrorist in the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization,” a militant group that has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza.
According to the civil defense agency, more than a dozen other Palestinians were killed in several strikes in Gaza’s north, center and south on Friday.
The toll includes at least eight people killed by Israeli fire while waiting to collect humanitarian aid, Bassal said.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not comment on the agency’s reports.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after a deadly attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli campaign has killed 59,676 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

 


Tunisians protest aginst President Saied, call country an ‘open-air prison’

Updated 25 July 2025
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Tunisians protest aginst President Saied, call country an ‘open-air prison’

  • Under the slogan “The Republic is a large prison,” protesters marched along Habib Bourguiba Avenue
  • They chanted slogans such as “no fear, no terror ... streets belong to the people” and “The people want the fall of the regime”

TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisian activists protested in the capital on Friday against President Kais Saied, denouncing his rule as an “authoritarian regime” that has turned the country into an “open-air prison”.

Under the slogan “The Republic is a large prison,” protesters marched along Habib Bourguiba Avenue. They demanded the release of jailed opposition leaders, journalists, and activists.

The protest marked the fourth anniversary of Saied’s power grab. In 2021, he dissolved the elected parliament and started ruling by decree, a move the opposition called a coup.

They chanted slogans such as “no fear, no terror ... streets belong to the people” and “The people want the fall of the regime”.

The protesters said Tunisia under Saied has descended into authoritarianism, with mass arrests and politically motivated trials silencing dissent.

“Our first aim is to battle against tyranny to restore the democracy and to demand the release of the political detainees,” Monia Ibrahim, wife of imprisoned politician Abdelhamid Jelassi, told Reuters.

In 2022, Saied dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges, a move the opposition said was aimed to cement one-man rule.

Saied said he does not interfere in the judiciary, but no one is above accountability, regardless of their name or position.

Most prominent opposition leaders are in prison, including Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist Ennahda party, and Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Constitutional Party.

They are among dozens of politicians, lawyers, and journalists facing lengthy prison sentences under anti-terrorism and conspiracy laws.

Others have fled the country, seeking asylum in Western countries.

In 2023, Saied said the politicians were “traitors and terrorists” and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.

“Prisons are crowded with Saied’s opponents, activists, journalists,” said Saib Souab, son of Ahmed Souab, the imprisoned lawyer Ahmed Souab who is a critical voice of Saied.

“Tunisia has turned into an open-air prison. ... Even those not behind bars live in a state of temporary freedom, constantly at risk of arrest for any reason.,” he added.


Israel says intercepted missile fired from Yemen

Updated 25 July 2025
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Israel says intercepted missile fired from Yemen

  • A missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the air force, said a military statement

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it intercepted on Friday a missile launched from Yemen toward its territory, after reporting that sirens sounded in several areas.

“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted” by the air force, the military said in a statement.


Israel strike kills one in south Lebanon

Updated 25 July 2025
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Israel strike kills one in south Lebanon

  • Health ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Baraachit resulted in one dead
  • Israel’s military said it had “eliminated the personnel officer for Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil sector“

BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Friday killed one person, authorities said, with the Israeli military identifying the slain man as an official with militant group Hezbollah.

Israel has repeatedly struck Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The Lebanese health ministry said Friday that “an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the village of Baraachit resulted in one dead.”

The Israeli military said it had “eliminated the personnel officer for Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil sector,” near the Israeli border.

The man “was involved in efforts to rehabilitate the terrorist organization in the Bint Jbeil area of southern Lebanon and operated to recruit terrorists during the war,” a military statement said.

On Thursday, Israel said it had struck Hezbollah weapons depots and a rocket launcher, and “eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist” in Lebanon’s south.

Under the November truce, Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving Lebanon’s army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region.

Israel was to withdraw its troops from Lebanon but has kept them in five areas it deems strategic.


Paramilitary attacks kill 30 in Sudan village

Updated 25 July 2025
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Paramilitary attacks kill 30 in Sudan village

  • The group added that the RSF also stormed major medical facilities in the city, expelling patients and using hospitals to treat wounded paramilitary fighters

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed at least 30 civilians in a two-day assault on a village in the country’s western region of Kordofan, a war monitor said Friday.
In recent months, as the war between the paramilitary troops and the regular army roared into its third year, Kordofan has emerged as a key battlefront, with the paramilitaries seeking to consolidate their control in the west after losing the capital Khartoum.
The Emergency Lawyers, a group that has documented atrocities throughout the war, said paramilitary fighters attacked the village of Brima Rasheed on Wednesday and Thursday, killing three civilians in the first raid and 27 others the following day.
It added in a statement that the dead included women and children.

FASTFACTS

• In recent months, as the war between the paramilitary troops and the regular army roared into its third year, Kordofan has emerged as a key battlefront.

• The Emergency Lawyers, a group that has documented atrocities throughout the war, said paramilitary fighters attacked the village of Brima Rasheed on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Emergency Lawyers said the paramilitary troops’ “indiscriminate killing” of civilians constituted “a serious violation” of international law.
Casualty figures are nearly impossible to independently verify, with most health facilities shut down and large swaths of Sudan inaccessible to journalists.
The monitor said sporadic clashes were also reported between paramilitary fighters and armed civilians in Brima Rasheed village, near the RSF-held city of En Nahud in West Kordofan state — a key transit point once used by the army to send reinforcements further west.
The Emergency Lawyers said that in recent days violence has spread across En Nahud, with reports of dozens of civilians killed and residential areas attacked.
The group added that the RSF also stormed major medical facilities in the city, expelling patients and using hospitals to treat wounded paramilitary fighters.
Those who resisted were beaten or detained, the Emergency Lawyers said.
Meanwhile, the UN said Friday that more than 1.3 million people who fled the fighting in Sudan have headed home, pleading for greater international aid to help returnees rebuild shattered lives.
Over a million internally displaced people have returned to their homes in recent months, UN agencies said.
A further 320,000 refugees have crossed back into Sudan this year, mainly from neighboring Egypt and South Sudan.
While fighting has subsided in the “pockets of relative safety” to where people are beginning to return, the situation remains highly precarious, the UN said.
In a joint statement, the UN’s IOM migration agency, UNHCR refugee agency and UNDP development agency called for an urgent increase in financial support to fund the recovery as people begin to return.
It said humanitarian operations were “massively underfunded.”
Sudan has 10 million IDPs, including 7.7 million forced from their homes by the current conflict, they said.
Over 4 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
Sudan is “the largest humanitarian catastrophe facing our world and also the least remembered,” the IOM’s regional director Othman Belbeisi, speaking from Port Sudan, told a media briefing in Geneva.
He said most of the returns (71 percent) had been to Al-Jazira state, while 8 percent had been to Khartoum.
Other returnees were mostly heading for Sennar state. Both Al-Jazira and Sennar are located southeast of Khartoum.
With the army controlling Sudan’s center, north and east, and the RSF holding nearly all of the western Darfur region, Kordofan in the south has become the main battleground of the war in recent weeks.
“We expect 2.1 million to return to Khartoum by the end of this year but this will depend on many factors, especially the security situation and the ability to restore services in a timely manner,” Belbeisi said.
He said the “vicious, horrifying civil war continues to take lives with impunity,” imploring the warring factions to put down their guns.
“The war has unleashed hell for millions and millions of ordinary people,” he said.
“Sudan is a living nightmare. The violence needs to stop.”