UNRWA Begins Delivering Aid to Gaza in Support of Their Battle With the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the virus continued to spread across the Middle East, with Iran, home to 80 million people, being the one who received the hardest hit with 141 reported new deaths so far, pushing the death toll closer to 3,000 people. On the other hand, Palestine’s Gaza strip just announced that 10 people have tested positive for having coronavirus and international officials are starting to fear that the virus could spread quickly, devastating the already fragile health system in Gaza.
Therefore, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees has started home deliveries to Palestinians’ homes to prevent them from going out or to the usually crowded distribution center where they would pick up their supplies. The supplies are delivered on three-wheel motorcycles where the distributor drops off the food by calling the house residents out to confirm their identities, and then he leaves the bags outside. The UNRWA stresses the importance of keeping a distance of around six feet from the delivery men to minimize the risk of infection.
Adnan Abu Hasna, the agency’s spokesman in Gaza told The National, “About 4,000 deliveries were made on Tuesday, with an estimated 70,000 more to be made over the next three weeks.” The deliveries included all the essentials, like flour, rice, oil, and canned foods, all of which were delivered to all 2 million residents of the territory.
