WHO chief Ghebreyesus said he was “appalled” at the destruction of al-Shifa Hospital. Meanwhile, pressure on Netanyahu increases domestically to strike a hostage deal with Hamas as the UN Human Rights Council considers an arms embargo against Israel.
Gaza continues to be at a major disadvantage in the pandemic due to the borderline functioning of the health care system after years of siege and repeated Israeli assaults and exhausted medical personnel. According to the World Health Organizations, 61.7% of the target population is fully vaccinated in the West Bank, 32.3% fully vaccinated in Gaza. The rate in Israel is 66 percent.
Given the infectiousness of Omicron, we can expect a major spike in infection rates, if not rates of severe disease, in the occupied Palestinian territories. Though according to the WHO, 27 Palestinians died of coronavirus in the past week, a downward trend since the most recent rise at the end of December and much lower than earlier peaks.
The UN warns Gaza is showing early warning signs of a coming “unprecedented” humanitarian crisis, Israel is still mulling the death penalty, and the World Health Organization examines Palestinians rights to health under the Israeli occupation in this edition of JVP’s month health advisory.