Day: 24 August 2021

Mujahed Hamed, an administrative detainee in Israel from Silwad town near Ramallah, ended today his hunger strike after 42 days of fast following a deal in which his current detention will not be renewed past January, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS).

Hamed was detained on September 22, 2020, and placed in administrative detention without charge or trial and based on secret evidence not known to him or his lawyer. His detention was renewed since then prompting Hamed to resort to hunger strike to secure his freedom.

He spent a total of nine years in Israeli prisons for his resistance of the occupation and after a year and three months after his release, he was detained and placed in administrative detention.

Hamed is married and had a son who was one month old when he was detained.

Yesterday, another administrative detainee ended his hunger strike after 43 days of fast after reaching a deal similar to Hamed.

Currently, seven Palestinian administrative detainees are on hunger strike in Israel also demanding an end to their unfair incarceration without charge or trial.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Coronavirus cases in Palestine continued to rise amidst warning of a sharp surge in the numbers as the Delta variant takes its toll on mainly unvaccinated people with 1570 new cases recorded in the West Bank and Gaza and four deaths in the last 24 hours.

Minister of Health Mai Alkaila said in her daily report on COVID-19 that 696 new cases were recorded in the West Bank and three deaths, while 153 corona patients have recovered, and 874 new cases and one death recorded in the besieged Gaza Strip and 44 recoveries.

People infected with corona who are at hospitals reached 96 and 29 are in intensive care units, while seven are on ventilators.

Alkaila said 590,230 people have been vaccinated against the disease in the West Bank, or 35 percent of the targeted people, while only 138,196 people or a mere 10.9 percent vaccinated in the Gaza Strip.

Health officials have warned of a surge in the numbers calling on people to get vaccinated. The government said it opened 70 new vaccination centers throughout Palestine to encourage people to receive the vaccine. It also said that all public sector employees along with students and teachers are required to be vaccinated to be able to get to their offices or schools.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila announced today the arrival of 500,000 doses of Moderna coronavirus vaccine through the international COVAX facility of the World Health Organization (WHO) as a donation of the United States.

She said at a press conference in Ramallah in the presence of US, WHO, and UNICEF officials that 300,000 doses will go for the West Bank and 200,000 for the Gaza Strip.

Alkaila thanked the US, WHO, and UNICEF for their support for the Palestinian healthcare sector and called on the public to get vaccinated since the vaccine is currently available for everyone in order to fight the corona pandemic.

“This generous contribution comes at a critical time to reinforce our efforts to address the COVID crisis in Palestine. It will also contribute to increasing the percentage of vaccinated Palestinians, which has reached up to 22.2 percent in Palestine,” said Alkaila.

“We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and bring an end to the pandemic,” US State Department Acting Palestinian Affairs Unit Chief Stacy Barrios said.

In addition to the vaccine doses, the United States has provided approximately $11.5 million in COVID-19 related assistance for the Palestinian people. This includes supporting health facilities throughout the West Bank by providing COVID-19 prevention and care services, training health workers and enhancing facilities to better care for COVID-19 patients, and providing essential medicines.

The United States has trained more than 400 healthcare workers and provided supplies to 14 hospitals across the West Bank to strengthen their life-saving COVID-19 response capacity and ensure that they are able to continue providing essential health care services.

In Gaza, the United States has reached nearly 2,000 households through medical mobile outreach teams who provide care to high-risk individuals to prevent further spread of the virus. The United States has provided infection prevention and control hygiene kits to more than 730 high-risk households (4,257 individuals) to safeguard families against the virus, as well as provided emergency assistance to nearly 1,330 households for the purchase of food and hygiene items needed to ensure their safety and ability to better manage the risk of infection.

Palestine so far received over 2.2 million doses of vaccines from different sources, including 1.7 million bought by the Palestinian government.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency