RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority health ministry on Saturday sent 20 truckloads of medicine to the Gaza Strip to ease critical hospital shortages.
Another 20 trucks will be transferred by Monday from warehouses in the West Bank city of Nablus to Gaza via the Erez crossing on Israel's border, the ministry said in a statement.
Ramallah Health Minister Fathi Abu Moghli said that the critical shortage of medicine in the Gaza Strip was caused by suppliers' delays. But he accused the Hamas health ministry in Gaza of trying "to politicize the health sector" by blaming the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority for the shortages. more
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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