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Egypt’s Awqaf Ministry: Opening of Mosques Depends on People Wearing Masks

The Egyptian cabinet meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, December 8, 2020. (Facebook)
The Egyptian cabinet meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, December 8, 2020. (Facebook)
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Egypt’s Awqaf Ministry: Opening of Mosques Depends on People Wearing Masks

The Egyptian cabinet meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, December 8, 2020. (Facebook)
The Egyptian cabinet meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, December 8, 2020. (Facebook)

Egypt’s Ministry of Awqaf has linked the continued opening of mosques with people’s abidance by the health measures amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

Awqaf Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said the country’s supreme committee tasked with managing the pandemic decides the opening or closure of institutions during the health crisis, including places of worship.

He affirmed that his ministry is committed to the decisions issued by the committee in this regard.

All mosques are regularly being disinfected, Gomaa stressed, noting that the toilets in mosques will not be opened and only people wearing masks will be allowed to enter.

The Minister explained that if people do not abide by the simplest health measure, which is wearing masks, the mosques will not be opened.

Meanwhile, the government stressed Tuesday the importance of the implementation of necessary preventive measures to fight the pandemic, the most important of which is wearing masks.

During a weekly cabinet session, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly ordered relevant authorities to fine violators of the health protocols.

Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar pointed out that university hospitals have been providing their services to patients, adding that the availability of necessary medications and medical supplies is monitored on a daily basis in accordance with the announced protocols.

In the same context, the Health Ministry underscored the hospitals’ readiness to confront the second wave of the coronavirus by developing the infrastructure of 44 hospitals and gas networks, providing 100 oxygen tanks, increasing the capacity by 7,500 beds, 1,500 intensive care beds and 325 ventilators, as well as adding 17 computed tomography (CT) machines.

According to a recent statement by the Health Ministry, 202 recovered patients were discharged from hospitals after receiving the necessary medical care.

The ministry said 415 new cases were recorded as well as 19 deaths, raising the infection tally to 118,847, including 103,703 recoveries and 6,790 fatalities.

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Late Night Tears and Hugs for Released Palestinian Prisoners 

Freed Palestinian prisoner Nidaa Zaghebi is greeted by her daughters, after her release from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2025. (Reuters)
Freed Palestinian prisoner Nidaa Zaghebi is greeted by her daughters, after her release from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2025. (Reuters)
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Late Night Tears and Hugs for Released Palestinian Prisoners 

Freed Palestinian prisoner Nidaa Zaghebi is greeted by her daughters, after her release from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2025. (Reuters)
Freed Palestinian prisoner Nidaa Zaghebi is greeted by her daughters, after her release from an Israeli jail as part of a hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2025. (Reuters)

Two buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released in the Gaza ceasefire deal had to inch through a thick crowd when they at last arrived in the West Bank at 2 am Monday.

After the doors opened, women hugged their relatives and cried tears of joy while throngs of people chanted, waved flags and climbed atop the vehicles. Others lit fireworks in the normally quiet suburb of Beitunia.

Bushra al-Tawil, a Palestinian journalist jailed in Israel in March 2024, was among the first batch of prisoners to be released in the truce.

Over the next 42 days, around 1,900 Palestinians are due to be freed in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Tawil began her journey at 3 am the day before, when she was taken from her prison to another nearer the separation wall. There, she was grouped with other inmates awaiting movement.

"The wait was extremely hard. But thank God, we were certain that at any moment we would be released," she said.

Tawil had only learned she would be freed from other inmates who had attended a hearing.

"The lawyers told them the (ceasefire) deal had been announced and was in the implementation phase," said Tawil, whose father is also in an Israeli jail.

"I was worried about him. He is still a prisoner, but I just received good news that he will be released as part of this deal."

A crowd of hundreds of Palestinians pressed around Tawil and the 89 other prisoners released in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Many in the crowd had gathered earlier on a hill in Beitunia for a view of Israel's Ofer prison, from where the prisoners were being released.

"We came here to witness it and feel the emotions, just like the families of the prisoners who are being released today," said Amanda Abu Sharkh, 23, from the nearby city of Ramallah.

'They feel like family'

"All the prisoners being released today feel like family to us. They are part of us, even if they're not blood relatives," she told AFP.

As night fell and the wait continued in the cold, dozens of small fires illuminated the stony hill.

Excitement grew when news broke that the three Israeli hostages had been released.

Mohammad, 20, said he had come from Ramallah with his friends as soon as he heard the development.

Recently released from Ofer prison himself, he expressed "great joy" at the thought of families being reunited.

"I know a lot of people in prison, there are innocent people, children and women," he said.

The prisoners set to be released during the initial 42-day ceasefire period include many held under administrative detention, which does not require formal charges.

Others are serving life sentences for attacks that killed Israelis.

Farther in Beitunia, even bigger crowds gathered at the roundabout where the prisoners were eventually dropped off, waving Palestinian and Hamas flags, chanting slogans and filling the streets in anticipation.

'There will be lots of crying'

An 18-year-old woman could barely contain her joy as she awaited her mother's release.

"I'll hug her right away -- of course, I'll hug her. At first, it'll just be tears of joy," she said.

"After that, she'll tell us about her time in prison, and we'll tell her about our lives without her. I'm sure there will be a lot of crying," she said as she stood by her brother, sister and aunt.

Her mother, a doctor, had been arrested in January 2024 in the north of the occupied West Bank for social media activity, she said.

"They accused her of incitement because of posts she wrote on Facebook," she said, calling the charges "ridiculous" for a middle-aged nurse and trained midwife.

Though he had been freed after being arrested with his son at the start of the war, his son remains detained and is not on the initial release list.

Oday, who preferred not to give his last name for fear of jeopardizing his son's release, said his son had been arrested for social media activity.

But he said he wanted to celebrate all the releases on Sunday night because he knows what captivity is like.

"You can't think for yourself and for your son only," he said, adding he was happy hostages were being released from Gaza as well.