Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health threat of serious concern, especially in conflict settings that face fragility and lack adequate resources and capacities. Gaza suffers from a blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation, environmental deterioration, confiscation of lands, demolition of houses and hospitals, restrictions on movement, lack of control over natural resources, and financial constraints. Gaza's population is consequently living in a poor humanitarian situation with high unemployment rates, poverty, over-crowdedness, and a weak health system. This makes Gaza incredibly fragile and affects its ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. The pandemic is expected to deepen Gaza's systems' fragility, which is already overstretched beyond their limits. This will hinder its capacity to deal with the pandemic, and other pre-existing pressing humanitarian needs. Therefore, in this review, we comprehensively explored Gaza's policy failures and successes related to the COVID-19 preparedness and response by state and non-state actors and recommend potential solutions and alternatives. We have addressed critical issues including the health system, water, sanitation, hygiene, socio-economic, education, food security, and others. In Gaza, effectiveness in combating the COVID-19 pandemic can only come from committed political will, transparency from all regulators, strategic dialogue, comprehensive planning, and active international support.
Highlights
The current reactive response of local authorities in Gaza has been effective in combating COVID19
All public services staff except those involved in emergency activities related to COVID-19 response as well as educational institutes, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other businesses are under lockdown under full suspension and/or working from home mode
The COVID-19 pandemic sheds light on the devastating impacts of the ongoing Israeli blockade since 2007 on the Health System (HS) in Gaza, which impeded Palestinian efforts to combat COVID19, including restricting the entry of essential materials needed for the health sectors such as equipment and medications, categorized as “dual-use” items, via the Israeli-controlled Karm Abu Salem crossing, the main commercial crossing
Summary
The current reactive response of local authorities in Gaza has been effective in combating COVID19. The number of cases and fatalities in the first 6 months of the crisis was relatively low compared to numbers in neighboring regions, including in the West Bank and Egypt. This has been possible because all incoming travelers to Gaza via Israel and Egypt enter a 21-day mandatory. As a response to confronting the spread of COVID-19 in the community, the local authorities have imposed complete isolation on the Al Maghazi camp, besides imposing a complete curfew in all Gaza Strip (GS) governorates for 48-h extended several times. In addition to several academic databases and search engines with no limit to the time of publication
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