The number of patients with Coronavirus in Bethlehem has reached 19 and all are in quarantine at the Angel Hotel in the city. There are another 26 people, including 14 US citizens, who are in isolation out of fear they may have contracted the virus.
Bethlehem residents have begun to organize support for the medical teams and Corona patients. Masks were distributed free of charge to seniors and to Palestinian Authority (PA) medical teams, and bakers and restaurants have delivered food products to the hotel.
In the meantime, several cafes have closed their doors and many families in Bethlehem have decided to postpone their weddings.
However, residents are complaining that the PA and is having difficulty functioning. Residents told TPS that hospitals across the PA refused to accept residents who were required to enter quarantine.
The Angel hotel manager told the media that he lacks food for those staying in solitary confinement, that the hotel is not equipped to provide secure isolation conditions and lacks medical equipment and medicines.
He said the PA medical teams are not equipped with protective suits or masks and only have gloves. Medical tests are delayed and residents have told TPS that the PA has yet to contact residents who have been tested or have reported symptoms.
The PA’s security forces, who have demanded that the Corona patients be transferred to a Jericho military academy facility, reportedly used violence when transferring the patients, and eyewitnesses say that only the presence of tourists at the hotel prevented women from being removed from the hotel early in the morning and without notice.
“We need medical teams and not security forces who came to scare us,” the women said of the PA’s conduct.
Following rumors circulating on social networks about transferring the infected to hospitals in the PA, residents of Hebron, Ramallah and Jericho have begun to block the main roads. A temporary checkpoint was erected near the casino in Jericho to prevent the transfer of the patients from Bethlehem to the city.
Residents of Bethlehem told TPS that residents of a refugee camp in the city tried to break into the Paradise Hotel in the city and remove the Christian pilgrims, and only the PA’s security forces prevented it.
City residents say the Authority is hiding its incompetence by blaming the IDF, saying that due to traffic restrictions on the city, patients cannot be properly treated.
However, a resident of the city said in this context that “the Bethlehem elders actually remember favorably the distribution of gas masks by Israel during the Gulf War and the preparations in the city, while the PA does not even distribute masks to its people.”
City residents are reporting that all the medical centers in the area are closed and even the only emergency room at El Hussein Hospital is not fully operational.
Patients who are in solitary confinement at the Jericho Military Academy, including several elderly people, have also complained. Some of those in isolation wrote on social networks of the disgusting conditions, filthy rooms, rats running around the place and lack of sanitation.
Meanwhile, the chief military prosecutor in the PA, Jihad Awad, was also infected with the virus through a relative of his. Subsequently, all military prosecutors and military academy staff in Jericho have been required to take precautions.
The Authority is fighting a wave of rumors and has warned residents against disseminating false information. Among other things, the Authority denies that 200 academics have been infected with the virus.
Hamas, which has refused to accept Mahmoud Abbas’ directives from Ramallah, is preparing to prevent the spread of the virus, even before educational institutions have actually chosen to follow the Authority’s instructions and close their doors.
Hamas authorities have informed the public that the Gaza Strip should not be left and has ordered those who have recently returned from several countries to stay in solitary confinement. All residents returning from abroad are being checked at the Rafah crossing with a thermal camera to find signs of infection.
Hamas has prepared an isolation facility near the Rafah crossing with 54 beds, in addition to preparing a similar facility in the European hospital in the Strip.
The PA closed the Yasser Museum of Arafat in Ramallah on Saturday night.