No Corona Tests for Palestinians in Gaza After Israel Attack

The only Palestinian site to conduct corona tests in Gaza has been shut down after an Israeli airstrike on Monday, local authorities report.

The clinic with a corona lab in the city of Al-Rimal was destroyed in an air raid, the Ministry of Health was also hit. Medical personnel of the ministry, among others, have been injured; some of them are in critical condition, Deputy Health Minister Yousef Abu al-Rish said.

According to a ministry spokesman in the Hamas-led enclave, the Israeli attacks “threaten to undermine the Ministry of Health’s efforts during the Covid pandemic.” Because of the seizures, the tests in the lab cannot continue. Before the violence flared up in Gaza last week, some 1,600 people were tested for corona daily.

Gaza has so far received 122,000 doses of corona vaccines per 2 million inhabitants. According to the World Health Organization, half of the vaccines have not yet been administered. The WHO says 103,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Gaza, of whom more than 930 have died.

Tensions in Gaza escalated last week when Palestinians threatened to be deported to make way for Jewish settlers. Since then, Hamas has fired missiles at Israel, and Israel has already bombed 1,500 targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 212 people.