Mondoweiss correspondent Yumna Patel lives in Bethlehem, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Palestine. As the crisis continues to develop, Yumna paints a picture of what daily life looks like in the city, the emotions of the people, and her own personal thoughts and fears.
Four Palestinian prisoners being held in the Megiddo prison in northern Israel have officially been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, sparking fears that the respiratory disease could spread quickly amongst the prison population.
Benny Gantz has vowed to form a broad unity government, possibly including Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, in order to “heal the Israeli society of the coronavirus.”
Rights groups are expressing concern over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest effort to tackle the coronavirus outbreak in the country; this time using “cellular geolocation” and “counter-terrorism” technology among other forms of surveillance .
15-year-old Mohammed Abdel Karim Hamayel was killed by Israeli forces as he participated in a sit-in to defend Palestinian land from Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Palestinians are hoping the Palestinian Authority’s desperate attempts to contain the spread of the coronavirus to the city of Bethlehem is working. Panic grew on Monday after the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that there was one confirmed case of the virus in the northern occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, the first case of the virus outside of Bethlehem.
On Thursday the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced seven confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Bethlehem, the first cases of the virus in Palestine.
With more than 90 percent of the ballots counted in Israel’s unprecedented third consecutive election within a year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is celebrating what he called a “massive victory.”
The village of Turmus Ayya, nestled in a valley between the Nablus and Ramallah districts in the northern occupied West Bank, had high hopes when a local Palestinian company proposed constructing a new housing development on the outskirts of the village. But the Netanyahu government wouldn’t allow it. “We learned from the media that Israel was banning construction in Area B, specifically in Turmus Ayya and the villages around the Shilo settlement,” Saeed Hussein, mayor of Turmus Ayya told Mondoweiss. “Since the release of the peace plan, any new policy in Israel can be directly tied to the American government,” Hussein said.
Since the Great March of Return began in Gaza two years ago, an estimated 19 Palestinians have lost an eye as a result of Israeli fire, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a new report this week.