This week, the rates of active COVID-19 cases continued to drop with around a 12% decrease in active Palestinian cases.

Saeb Erekat, 65, Secretary-General of the PLO, is reportedly in critical condition after contracting COVID-19 earlier this month. Israeli Knesset members condemned the decision to admit Erekat to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, saying that Israel should have demanded Palestinian political concessions in exchange for his treatment.

Gaza is partially still under curfew, heading into six weeks of closures and limited movement between governorates in nighttime hours, but some measures were scaled back this week.

Palestinians are trying to enjoy the cooling temperatures and beauty of things like the olive harvest as much as they can, before another spike in the coronavirus, flu, or any other unforeseen challenges that 2020 is sure to throw this way.

Gov. Cuomo tries to deflect criticism of his coronavirus restrictions on the Orthodox by bragging on his pro-Israel bona fides. “Nobody has traveled more to Israel. Two of my brothers-in-law are Jewish. Nobody’s fought anti-Semitism more aggressively than I have. First Governor in the nation to do BDS.”

There were at least 3,814 new cases of COVID-19 in the occupied Palestinian territory in the last week. Gaza is where most of the new cases are located, adding up to around 18% of overall current Palestinian cases.

Despite being been stuck living between COVID-19 and the Israeli occupation, Palestinians have come up with unique and creative solutions to the problems that they’ve faced because of the coronavirus. In this final episode of our COVID-19 series in Palestine, we’re showcasing Palestinians who responded to the coronavirus pandemic using innovation and creativity as a way to help their communities adapt to the crisis around them.

For a second time since the pandemic began, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened in both directions for three days this week, allowing stranded Palestinians to return to their homes.

While the rate of COVID-19 infections in Israel has skyrocketed in the last week, Palestinian health officials are reporting more promising numbers, with the Ministry of Health reporting an 80% recovery rate among COVID-19 patients in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

Like the rest of the world, Palestine has been hit hard with the coronavirus. The city of Bethlehem in particular has perhaps been impacted the most by the pandemic. At any given time of year the streets of Bethlehem’s Old City are filled with tourists from all over the world, but now shops have been closed and the streets are empty. According to local experts, short-term losses as a result of COVID-19 have reached up to 500 million dollars in Bethlehem alone, and people here are wondering if life will ever return back to normal.