While the world is collectively dealing with the rampant spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Israel has continued its systemic and widespread campaign of violating the rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), across both the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Following the call by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, for a global ceasefire “to allow humanitarians to reach populations that are most vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19”[1], Israel has inter alia; carried out the wilfull killings of Mohammed Abdul Karim Ghasib Hamayel, 15, and Sufyan Nawwaf Abd al-Haleem Khawaja, 30, withholding the bodies of deceased as measures of collective punishment; continued military raids into the West Bank; conducted widespread arrests and administrative detentions; allowed for serious spikes in settler violence; continued its draconian closure of the Gaza Strip and denial to Palestinian’s of adequate healthcare.
[1] UN, COVID-19: UN chief calls for global ceasefire to focus on ‘the true fight of our lives’ (23 March 2020), available at: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1059972.