Gaza – Ma’an – Twelve European parliamentarians have joined the “Hope” aid convoy to Gaza, which left the Italian port of Genoa last Sunday, said Hamdi Sha’ath, who heads the Palestinian governmental committee in charge of hosting delegations, on Saturday.
Sha’ath said in a statement released by the committee’s information office that the convoy would include 120 foreign solidarity activists headed by member of Italian senate Fernando Rossi.
Parliamentarians from Britain, Italy, Greece, Scotland, and Switzerland have also joined the aid convoy, which is expected to arrive at Alexandria port in Egypt by mid-May, before heading to Gaza by land.
Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of the novel coronavirus spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with some joking that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario. But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned. "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible
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