Egypt's Dar al-Ifta Authorizes Use of COVID-19 Vaccine Containing Pork Components

A member of the medical team sprays disinfectant for the COVID-19 outbreak at a metro station in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
A member of the medical team sprays disinfectant for the COVID-19 outbreak at a metro station in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
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Egypt's Dar al-Ifta Authorizes Use of COVID-19 Vaccine Containing Pork Components

A member of the medical team sprays disinfectant for the COVID-19 outbreak at a metro station in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
A member of the medical team sprays disinfectant for the COVID-19 outbreak at a metro station in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)

Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta said the coronavirus vaccine, which is said to contain a porcine substance, is not forbidden according to the Islamic Sharia as long as this substance has been transformed into another one.

In a fatwa issued on Saturday, Dar al-Ifta said the porcine substance has been transformed into another during the manufacturing process of the vaccine, and thus there is no judgment based on the impurity that it once was.

In this regard, Dar el Iftaa has allowed people to be treated by the vaccine when its manufacturing substance is transformed.

Also, Al-Azhar issued a fatwa prohibiting the violation of the precautions issued by authorities to curb the spread of the virus.

Al-Azhar Fatwa Global Center renewed its warning against violating the preventive measures after the country reported a spike in infections.

The Center reiterated Saturday that citizens must abide by the measures and the instructions of the Health Ministry, issued to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

It warned that the virus can harm those who don’t follow the precautions, as well as their families and people they meet or work with.

The Health Ministry also reiterated that it was necessary to clean and sterilize mosques throughout the country and ensure that worshipers maintain social distance while toilets and shrines remain closed.

Egypt recorded on Saturday 1,133 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 130,126.

The Ministry reported in a statement that 49 patients have also died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 7,309.



Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including six children near a water distribution point.

The attacks came with apparent deadlock in a week of indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the territory.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight, "including women and children" and wounding others.

An Israeli airstrike hit a family home near the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in "10 martyrs and several injured", Bassal said.

In central Gaza, six children were among eight people killed when a drone "hit a potable water distribution point in an area for displaced people" in the Nuseirat camp, he added.

Several other people were wounded, he said.

In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defense spokesman.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack.

On Saturday, the military said fighter jets had hit more than 35 "Hamas terror targets" around Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.