JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel on Monday issued a brusque warning to Hamas, demanding it prevent rocket fire from Gaza as fears grow of a new confrontation around the coastal Palestinian enclave. Militants fired 14 rockets at southern Israel during the morning, sending tension soaring and drawing a warning from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that unless the Islamist movement cracked down on those behind the attacks the Israeli military would step in. "If this fire continues there are two possibilities: either Hamas stops it as the responsible authority in the area, or we will stop it," Netanyahu said in remarks broadcast on army radio. "I strongly suggest that Hamas take into account the fact that we will not let this firing continue or expand," he told ministers at the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defense. 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