RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – Adria and Ayman Arafat are finally on their way to Florida after spending months in the Gaza Strip due to coronavirus-related restrictions, but fear they will now face a much greater health risk.
Palestinians sit in a taxi before crossing the Rafah border with Egypt, which was opened for the first time since it was closed in March over Covid-19 concerns, in the southern Gaza Strip 11 August 2020. REUTERS / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Gaza has so far seen only 81 cases of COVID-19 and only one death, in part as a result of blockades imposed on Palestinian territory by neighboring Egypt and Israel, while Florida’s infection rates are among the highest in the United States. States.
The Arafats, who arrived in Gaza last December to visit relatives, are worried about returning to their four children in the United States and have taken advantage of Egypt’s decision to briefly open the Rafah border crossing for departing Gazans and foreign passport holders for the first time since March.
But Adria Arafat, who is a school principal in Panama City, Florida, is growing somewhat sad about heading back to Florida, which has so far registered more than 530,000 COVID-19 cases and with Monday, 8404 deaden.
“That’s scary, but as long as you take precautionary measures and you’re careful … you just have to trust God and get away with it,” she said.
Her husband Ayman, a businessman, added: “Part of me does not want to leave, but my children are there and as they will we have to deal with, we have to.”
Through security clearances, Israel and Egypt restricted border movement with Gaza, territory ruled by Hamas Islamists. Rafah is the only departure point for Gazans seeking, through Egypt, to other countries.
The blockades – condemned by legal groups as a collective punishment – and strict quarantine measures for anyone entering Gaza, have together effectively stopped the spread of the coronavirus in the Strip, home to some two million people.
The three-day opening of Rafah will also allow Palestinians stranded by the Egyptian pandemic to return to Gaza. Local health officials have expressed concern that at least 20 percent of the 3,000 expected returning people could be infected.
People moving to Gaza will have to spend three weeks in quarantine and be tested for COVID-19.
Edited by Jeffrey Heller and Gareth Jones
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