RAMALLAH, West Bank — The initial approach by the Israeli Ministry of Health to the novel coronavirus in Palestinian communities of East Jerusalem has had residents concerned and in some respects having to rely on their own efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19. Fears among East Jerusalemites were exacerbated when the first death in the area from COVID-19 — that of Nawal Khalil, an elderly woman who suffered from chronic illness — was recorded on April 18. 

The Jerusalem Doctors’ Network had sounded the alarm April 13 about the spread of the coronavirus in East Jerusalem’s neighborhoods and called on residents to take measures to protect themselves, given the lack of information from Israeli authorities in this regard.

The Israelis only agreed on April 13 to open testing centers on April 14 in East Jerusalem, in the Shuafat and Kafr Aqab refugee camps, setting up two stations in each, in response to a petition submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court on April 8 by the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel in coordination with the Civic Coalition to Defend Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem. There are now six testing sites in East Jerusalem. 

Mai al-Kayla, the Palestinian Authority (PA) health minister, said in a government briefing on April 15 that her ministry relies on estimates provided by local sources, which she did not identify, for coronavirus figures in East Jerusalem. Government spokesperson Ibrahim Melhem said that Israeli authorities refuse to provide the PA with the number of cases among Palestinians. Israel does not allow an official PA presence in East Jerusalem, whose annexation by Israel is not recognized under international law.