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December 25th, 2020 
Awake Goy The Latest (as of 12/25/20):
- 147,234 Palestinians tested positive for COVID-19; 121,721 recoveries; 1,385 deaths
- Of Palestinians who tested positive 93,807 live in the West Bank; 16,636 in East Jerusalem; and 36,791 live in Gaza
- 393,369 Israelis tested positive for COVID-19; 356,689 recoveries; 3,185 deaths
Streets are quiet in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, for an understated Christmas as health officials are still working control the spread of the coronavirus with closures, and prevent further cases of a mutated strain that originated in the UK.
On Sunday, Israel will enter a third national lockdown for two weeks with a mass shut down of businesses and a partial closure of schools. The lockdown will be extended for another two weeks, lasting one month total, if the average daily new cases do not dramatically fall below their current levels of 3,000 new infections per day.
The decision to head back to lockdown comes on the heels of four confirmed cases in Israel of a mutation of COVID-19 first found in the UK that may not be receptive to current vaccines. Israel started inoculating around 65,000 per day last week.
Israel’s broader coronavirus response could change in the coming months as another snap election will come in March, after the government collapsed this week when its parliament failed to pass a budget. This will be the fourth election in two years.
Cases continue to surge in Gaza, level off in the West Bank
Over the last week cases declined in the West Bank but the leveling off has not extended to Gaza where new cases continue to surge. On Tuesday and Wednesday Gaza saw its highest death rate since the start of the pandemic, with 24 dying over the course of 48 hours. In total, there are 304 confirmed COVID-19 related deaths in Gaza.
As we’ve reported previously in this newsletter, experts believe the official count belies a wider outbreak that is likely far-reaching, yet undetected. For the last month Gaza’s positivity rate on COVID-19 tests has been over 30%, which indicates far too few tests are being administered, according to the WHO’s latest situation report. In the last week an average of 2,194 tests were administered in Gaza per day. This comes on the heels of tests running out for at least a third time since the pandemic began, and the WHO says Gaza will likely run out once more in the next week: “Health authorities reported enough COVID-19 tests for 15 days until 3 January, as of 23 December.”
Of all active Palestinian cases, 39.8% are in Gaza.
Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups raise alarm on vaccine
While Israel is due to expediently vaccinate its population of 9 million, next door in the occupied Palestinian territory alarms are ringing that the Palestinian Authority has failed to secure enough vaccines to sufficiently protect the population.
On Tuesday a group of ten leading human rights groups in the region including Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan, Amnesty International Israel, and B’Tselem issued an open letter explaining the Palestinian leadership “has made clear that it does not have sufficient funds and capabilities to purchase the necessary vaccinations.”
The first round of vaccines are due to arrive in the West Bank in January, about four weeks behind Israel, but it’s not just the time delay, it’s the small quantity and quality. Only 150,000 doses will come in the first installment. Palestinians are purchasing the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine with a 91.4% effectivity rate, based on a phase III clinical trial with 26,000 participants.
In their open letter, the human rights groups noted Israel is using the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both with slightly higher effectivity rates hovering around 95%. Distributing different vaccines (the Russian one is “is not approved for its own citizens”), the human rights groups say “Israel cannot import a vaccine that it has not approved for its own population and send it to the occupied population. Israel must ensure that the vaccines delivered to Palestinians in the OPT, also meet the approvals of the Israeli health system, and that these vaccines be purchased and delivered as soon as possible.”
A merry COVID-19 Christmas
This week our correspondent Yumna Patel stopped in on Manger Square, speaking to Palestinians in Bethlehem about their bleak Christmas celebrations. Christmas, is more than a major holiday, it is also a huge source of income for many of the city’s residents who under normal conditions rely on seasonal tourism.
Vera Abu Saada, a local Bethlehem, told Patel: “The churches are closed, social life has come to a stop, there are no gatherings, there are even no family relations anymore. I can’t even visit my sister or visit my brother because of the coronavirus. So, this year’s Christmas is really hard for us.”
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