The IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) delivered 3,000 testing kits for detecting Coronavirus (COVID-19) and 50,000 protective masks to the Palestinian Authority (PA), another Israeli step to help the PA combat the spread of the virus.
The equipment, which was donated by the World Health Organization (WHO), was transferred on Wednesday from Jordan into the PA via the IDF.
COGAT head Gen. Kamil Abu Rukon stated that “this is another instance that COGAT is working closely with the World Health Organization to assist the PA in combating the Coronavirus outbreak.”
He “applauded the cooperation with the international organizations for the important and common purpose,” and “wished for the robust health of all the residents of the region” and expressed hope that the IDF “will continue to work together in the fight against the spread of the dangerous virus.”
In related news, the Al Makassed Hospital in eastern Jerusalem held professional training sessions on Wednesday for the preparation of hospital departments to receive Coronavirus patients. The hospital received assistance from the Israeli Ministry of Health to establish an ICU for COVID-19 patients.
Israel has shut down its crossings into Gaza and the PA-controlled areas in Judea and Samaria to stem the spread of the virus.
The PA has recorded 64 cases of Coronavirus and experienced its first Corona related death on Wednesday when a woman in her 60s from the village of Biddo died of the virus.
Of the 64 Coronavirus cases, two are in Gaza, while the majority of the cases are concentrated in the Ramallah and Bethlehem areas.
COGAT has been assisting the PA’s health care system in the effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Judea and Samaria and in the Gaza Strip.
COGAT has published the Israeli health ministry guidelines on prevention and protection from the virus spread and ways to deal with contagion and outbreak in Arabic.
Civil Administration Health Coordinator Dalia Basa said earlier this month that “bacteria and viruses do not stop at the border, and the spread of the dangerous virus in Judea and Samaria can also jeopardize the health of the residents of Israel.”
Israel will continue to assist the PA “both as an Israeli interest and for humanitarian reasons,” she added.