Israel Will Stop Testing Gaza Strip COVID-19
The Claim
Israeli soldiers conducting coronavirus tests in the Gaza Strip have been ordered to stop by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett due to coordination issues.
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As the UN praised "excellent" Israeli-Palestinian cooperation in their fight against the pandemic, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the Israeli government canceled an initiative to conduct 50 coronavirus tests per day on individual samples from the Gaza Strip on April 22, 2020. Israeli media reports said that Bennett’s decision came following a series of discussions among Israeli army officials that have failed to approve testing for 50 potential cases of COVID-19 in Gaza. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has been calling for international organizations to help provide testing kits for the Coronavirus. Gaza has been under blockade for the past fourteen years and has scant medical supplies and health facilities. Claims were circulating across the MENA region.
Misbar’s Analysis
According to Israeli reports, the decision came after the Israeli army allowed entry and testing of 100 samples from Gaza, based on coordination between Israel and International Health Organizations. The testing took place in an Israeli military site called Tservin with the help of an “Israeli coordinator” for the Palestinians. The Israeli coordinator helped bring COVID19 samples from Gaza via Erez Checkpoint, which is Israeli controlled North Gaza. However, coordination between these two bodies broke down somewhere in the process, and the project was halted, Maariv explained.
An Israeli official told Maariv, "It is a mistake that Israel stops doing such tests for Gaza’s patients. Preventing the spread of Coronavirus tests comes in Israel’s best interest.”
Hamas officials have warned of a “catastrophe” if the virus spreads among the two million Palestinians in the Strip. A Palestinian authority, Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, tweeted, “This occupation knows nothing about humanity, and the international community is required to curb its illegal practices." Israeli authorities, civil society, and media outlets have warned that an outbreak of the coronavirus in the Gaza Strip may pose a serious risk to Israel.
Testing for the Coronavirus in Gaza is being currently supervised by the Palestinian Authority and the World Health Organization.
In conclusion, authorities, reports, and officials support that the claim is true. Despite the fact that it’s not very clear how the coordination between the two bodies (Palestinian and Israelis) broke down, Israel halted the initiative.
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