Sanaa Alswerky 02/16/2021
Israel bears full responsibility for this “arbitrary procedure,” Palestinian health minister says; Israel says PA needs to complete paperwork
[Gaza City] The Health Ministry in Gaza was expecting the arrival of the Strip’s first COVID-19 vaccines on Monday, but after more than 18 hours of waiting, Israel denied permission for the shipment to enter the coastal enclave.
“The vaccine shipment, which was expected to arrive via the Kerem Shalom crossing, is part of the Russian aid for Palestinians to face the pandemic,” Majdy Dhair, deputy chief of primary care at Gaza’s Health Ministry, told The Media Line.
Pandemic Helps Gaza’s Youth Tie the Knot Sanaa Alswerky
21% rise in marriages as the coronavirus crisis drives costs down, official says
[Gaza City] In addition to dealing crushing blows to the health, finances and social lives of the more than 2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, the COVID-19 pandemic has, bizarrely, proved a blessing for many young couples in the tiny coastal enclave.
Gaza’s Islamic courts registered 20,919 marriage contracts in 2020, compared with 17,270 the previous year, an increase of 21%, Sheikh Hassan al-Jojo, the head of Gaza’s Supreme Sharia Judicial Council, told reporters last week.
Jojo attributed the spike to the drop in the costs of a wedding due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with young people able to marry with fewer expenses.
Sanaa Alswerky
Hamas has become pragmatic, accepting help from anyone, analyst says
[Gaza City] A shipment of UAE medical aid reached Gaza on Sunday, entering via the Rafah crossing from Egypt. The shipment, the second in recent weeks, arrived through the efforts of United Arab Emirates-based Fatah dissident Mohammad Dahlan, his Fatah − Democratic Reform Bloc movement and the coastal strip’s ministry of social development.
Jawad al-Tibi, head of the medical committee at the National Islamic Commission for Development and Social Solidarity, or Takaful humanitarian organization, said the shipment includes an oxygen production plant with all its associated equipment, 30 ventilators, masks and PCR diagnostic tests to combat the novel coronavirus.