Israel has begun testing a COVID-19 vaccine prototype on rodents at its bio-chemical defence laboratory, a source said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), in rural Ness Ziona, to join the fight against the coronavirus pandemic on February 1, prompting an easing of its secrecy as it cooperates with civilian scientists and private firms. In a statement, Netanyahu’s […]
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The number of COVID-19 cases in Israel has reached 3,460 after 425 more people are diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the statement by the country’s health ministry, Anadolu reports. 50 of the patients are in critical condition and 89 have recovered, the statement added. Until now, COVID-19 claimed the lives of 12 in the country. As part of measures, all schools have been closed in the […]
The Israeli occupation government has reopened a nuclear bunker in Jerusalem Hills as part of its fight against the outbreak of the coronavirus, Israeli officials revealed on Thursday. The bunker, called the “National Management Centre”, was built more than a decade ago out of concern over Iran’s nuclear programme and missile attacks from Hezbollah and Hamas. According to the Israeli officials, the bunker includes living rooms […]
Israeli occupation police have described the aggression of Israeli settlers on a Border Police vehicle on Thursday as a “terrorist act”, Israeli media reported. A group of extremist right-wing Israeli occupation settlers threw firebombs at an Israeli Border Police vehicle which was leaving the settlement of Yitzhar after trying to enforce a closed-off military zone in the nearby settlers’ outpost of Kumi Ori. Israeli newspaper Haaretz […]
![Israel fights with coronavirus fears - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]](https://1buv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/israel-under-cover-of-the-coronavirus-crisis-middle-east-monitor.jpg)
The populations of many countries the world over are right now living under unprecedented quarantine measures and restrictions on movement. The threat of the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic has changed the world for the foreseeable future. It is true that most people who contract COVID-19 (the disease caused by this new coronavirus) will suffer only mild symptoms and will soon recover. It is also true that […]
Following the global outbreak of the highly contagious coronavirus, a Palestinian sewing company is producing surgical masks and other protective gear instead of clothing, reports The Times of Israel. UniPal 2000 factory in the Karni Industrial Zone in Gaza City is a merger of four sewing factories with a capital of $1.2 million and 200 workers. Chairman Nabil Bawwab said the company made the transition at […]
Journalist Ron Ben-Yishai, who has been covering Israel’s wars since the 1967 Six-Day War, has warned of an increase in violence among Israelis that could mount to civil war due in part to the public’s growing distrust in the government and its leaders. Ben-Yishai explained in an article published by Yedioth Ahronoth that Israelis currently face two major events; the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing political […]
Israel will deploy its army to help police enforce the coronavirus lockdown in the country, as people are told to stay at home and businesses are closed down. A partial lockdown that was already in place was made even stricter earlier this week, with people being required to stay within 100 meters of their homes and to stay at home as much as possible, with the […]
Human rights activists have filed an urgent petition to Israel’s High Court this morning against emergency regulations enacted due to the coronavirus crisis preventing lawyers and family members from meeting with Palestinian prisoners. The decision announced on 15 March determines that political prisoners, who are usually denied the right to use phones in prison, can only consult with their attorneys over the phone in the event […]
Israel’s ex-military chief Benny Gantz submitted himself Thursday as a candidate for speaker of parliament. Gantz is PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, and the move could lead to an emergency alliance between the two, AFP reports. The parliament announced that Gantz was the only candidate to succeed Netanyahu ally Yuli Edelstein, who resigned as speaker on Wednesday. Israel’s Supreme Court arranged for a vote for a […]
Israeli forces today demolished a residential building and seized tents and other equipment in the Jordan Valley village of Ibziq, north of the occupied West Bank city of Tubas, according to Wafa news agency. The Jordan Valley, which accounts for almost a third of the occupied West Bank, is home to 65,000 Palestinians in 28 villages. Since 1967, when the Israeli army occupied the West Bank, […]
Israel is looking to buy 10,000 ventilators from the US and Gulf States to boost its ability to help coronavirus patients during the ongoing crisis, Kan TV has reported. “Due to the lack of medical equipment,” explained the Prime Minister’s office on Tuesday evening, “a team has been formed led by Mossad director Yossi Cohen and National Security Council Chairman Meir Ben-Shabbat to purchase equipment from […]
Palestinian workers in Israel are being urged by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh to return to the occupied West Bank. The order comes in the wake of social media footage of a Palestinian labourer suffering from coronavirus symptoms being dumped by Israeli police officers at the Beit Sira checkpoint. “In light of the dangerous, successive developments in Israel and expected measures banning movement, we call […]
Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee, Dr. Saeb Erekat, has said that Israel has seized 95 per cent of the Jordan Valley which is inhabited by 12,700 Israeli settlers while only 55,000 Palestinians live on the remaining five per cent. Erekat added in a statement issued by the Negotiations Affairs Department on Tuesday that in 2019 Israel constructed four new settlement outposts […]
The Israeli Magistrate’s Court in Haifa has frozen the implementation of a prison sentence against Sheikh Raed Salah who was due to enter prison on Wednesday, Quds Press has reported. The court froze the implementation of the prison sentence after an appeal was filed by Salah’s defence team. Meanwhile, the court gave the public prosecution until next Friday to reply to the appeal. READ: Israel rejects […]
Israeli health officials reported a third death from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday. An Israeli male, 87, suffering from chronic disease died at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem. Earlier Tuesday, officials reported a second death when a 67-year-old woman, who had “a serious preexisting medical condition,” died at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. Infections rose to 1,656 after 214 new cases were detected Tuesday, […]
The Arab League today has called on the international community to urge Israeli authorities to release Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails amid fears of the spread of coronavirus. Fears of a coronavirus outbreak in prisons holding Palestinian detainees were compounded following confirmation from the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) that at least four Palestinian prisoners in Megiddo Prison have tested positive for COVID-19. Saeed Abu Ali, […]
Israel’s occupation authorities have banned Jewish settlers’ incursions at Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, citing coronavirus fears, Arab48.com reported on Monday. Foreign tourists have also been banned from entering the Islamic holy site for the same reason. Any Palestinians who violate the order face fines of up to 5,000 new Israeli shekels (NIS), insisted the authorities. Employees of the Awqaf (Religious Endowment) Department in the […]
Israeli authorities have handed over evacuation and demolition orders to residents of two Arab homes in the Negev, Safa News Agency reported yesterday. Member of the Local Committee of Rakhma Neighbourhood Sulieman Freehat said that the Israeli police raided his “unrecognised” village and handed over the evacuation and demolition orders. READ: Likud maintains boycott of the Knesset as Israeli political crisis drags on Despite the state […]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has postponed its procedures against Israel due to the coronavirus outbreak, ICC’s chief prosecutor announced on Sunday. According to the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that the procedures against Israel would be delayed for at least a month, citing the global coronavirus pandemic. READ: Israel’s army wants to take up battle against coronavirus Bensouda, the […]
The body of the 32-year-old Palestinian man shot dead by Israeli soldiers for throwing rocks at cars in the occupied West Bank last night is being withheld from his family by the Israeli authorities. The Israelis confirmed that soldiers had shot Sufian Al-Khawaja in the head as he drove through Ni’lin with his injured cousin, who the army claimed got away and was being pursued. According […]
Israel’s Public Prosecution Service has rejected a request to delay the detention of Sheikh Raed Salah who is due to go back into prison on 25 March, Arab48.com reported on Sunday. The veteran Palestinian rights activist was given a 28-month prison sentence by the Magistrates’ Court in Haifa for remarks that he made at a funeral in 2017. Sheikh Salah has already spent 11 months in […]
Coronavirus: Israeli police arrest Palestinian health workers March 23, 2020 at 11:01 am READ: Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank Related Source
An elderly male died from the novel coronavirus, according to Israeli health officials late Friday. The Health Ministry said the patient, 88, was diagnosed last week with the virus known as COVID-19 at a hospital in West Jerusalem. The death is the first from the virus in Israel and officials said the health of 14 of 705 confirmed cases are serious. OPINION: Where did Israel’s Mossad […]