Covid-19 Cases Continue to Rise in Gaza Strip

A Palestinian medic prepares a shot of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, in Gaza City, Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo)
A Palestinian medic prepares a shot of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, in Gaza City, Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo)
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Covid-19 Cases Continue to Rise in Gaza Strip

A Palestinian medic prepares a shot of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, in Gaza City, Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo)
A Palestinian medic prepares a shot of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, in Gaza City, Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo)

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported on Thursday a surge in Covid-19 cases in Gaza Strip. The Ministry said 1,932 new cases were registered in the past 24 hours.

Last week, the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza decided to close all educational institutions, including schools, universities and kindergartens until further notice.

The ministry also said that lockdown measures previously imposed will remain in effect.

Wedding halls remain closed and gatherings, occasions for celebration and mourning in houses and public streets are also banned.

The Palestinian government imposed a partial lockdown in the West Bank Sunday through Thursday, and a total lockdown from Friday to Saturday.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 289,719 cases and 3,043 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic.



Iraq Says Kurdish Separatist Group in Türkiye Attacked Iraqi Border Guards, Killing 2

A member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carries an automatic rifle on a road in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq. (AFP)
A member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carries an automatic rifle on a road in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq. (AFP)
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Iraq Says Kurdish Separatist Group in Türkiye Attacked Iraqi Border Guards, Killing 2

A member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carries an automatic rifle on a road in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq. (AFP)
A member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carries an automatic rifle on a road in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq. (AFP)

Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Friday in a statement that two members of the Iraqi border guards were killed and another wounded in an attack that it said was carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in the area of Zakho, in northwestern Iraq near the borders with Türkiye and Syria.

Iraq last year officially banned the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Türkiye since the 1980s and is considered by Ankara to be a terrorist group.

A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment said the PKK has previously targeted military points of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi border guards.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is set to visit Baghdad on Sunday, where he is expected to discuss regional security issues and Turkish military operations against the PKK and affiliated groups.

The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have controlled northeast Syria for the past decade, is under attack by the Syrian National Army, an umbrella organization of Turkish-backed armed groups, which regards the SDF as an extension of the PKK.