JERUSALEM — There was barely enough space to move on the popular Omar al-Mukhtar street in Gaza City on the eve of the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha as throngs of Palestinians — almost none with masks — crowded into colorful clothing shops and huddled around makeshift food stands.

“If the virus were here, we wouldn’t be so close to each other,” said Saber Siam, 28, a salesman at a clothing store selling imported items from China and Turkey. “You wouldn’t find me holding a customer’s arm or kissing his cheek to encourage him to purchase our clothes.”

The blockaded Gaza Strip might be one of the only places in the world where no cases of community transmission of the coronavirus have been recorded — an achievement attributed to the coastal enclave’s isolation as well as swift measures taken by its militant Hamas rulers.

The pandemic, however, hasn’t left Gaza untouched.

Citing the need to combat the virus, the various governmental authorities controlling the borders of Gaza have imposed new restrictions on movement outside the territory. That has exacerbated an already challenging situation for Palestinians who say they urgently need to travel to Israel and the West Bank, as well as for those wishing to escape the bleak economic reality by emigrating by way of Egypt.

Source: New York Times

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