Libyan Officials Warn of Virus Surge during Eid al-Fitr Celebrations

Part of an awareness campaign in the Jafara Plain on the importance of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. (National Center for Disease Control)
Part of an awareness campaign in the Jafara Plain on the importance of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. (National Center for Disease Control)
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Libyan Officials Warn of Virus Surge during Eid al-Fitr Celebrations

Part of an awareness campaign in the Jafara Plain on the importance of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. (National Center for Disease Control)
Part of an awareness campaign in the Jafara Plain on the importance of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. (National Center for Disease Control)

Libyan officials voiced concern over a possible hike in COVID-19 infections during Eid al-Fitr after the country reported a decline in cases.

Member of the Epidemiology Committee at the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) Tarek Jibril urged all citizens to comply with health-preventive measures during the holiday.

He also said it was unlikely for the country to register the Indian coronavirus strain amid the current imposed measures.

In televised statements on Tuesday, Jibril said the country is recording an average of 315 daily coronavirus cases.

“This rate is considered low compared to the past months,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bader al-Din al-Najjar, the NCDC Head, called on citizens to adhere to the imposed precautionary measures by maintaining social distancing. He also urged shop owners to prevent customers from gathering and oblige them to wear masks.

According to the NCDC, Libya registered 181,000 infections, including 16,7043 recoveries and 3,000 deaths.

Almost 100,000 citizens have received the first COVID-19 shot, said Najjar, pointing out that the national inoculation drive is proceeding “at an excellent pace, and will include all municipalities after Eid al-Fitr.”

Najjar further reassured people about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, citing researches published in major international medical reports.

He affirmed that the first dose provides the needed protection to prevent death or dangerous complications from the virus.

The Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Campaign to support social mobilization and raise awareness on the COVID-19 vaccination, which was launched by the UNICEF in coordination with the NCDC earlier in April, is proceeding as scheduled, the Center said.



Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Large groups of women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday following a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas of central Gaza where aid agencies have teams on the ground.

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a Geneva press briefing via video link from Jordan. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Sunghay said the UN had been unable to take any aid to northern Gaza, where he said an estimated 70,000 people remain following "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

Sunghay visited camps for people recently displaced from parts of northern Gaza. They were living in horrendous conditions with severe food shortages and poor sanitation, he said.

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in – and it is not. It is so important the Israeli authorities make this happen," he said. He did not specify the last time UN agencies had sent aid to northern Gaza.

US WARNING

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set out steps last month for Israel to carry out in 30 days to address the situation in Gaza, warning that failure to do so may have consequences on US military aid to Israel.

The State Department said on Nov. 12 that President Joe Biden's administration had concluded that Israel was not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and therefore was not violating US law.

The Israeli army, which began its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023, said its operating in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 were trying to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's government body that oversees aid, Cogat, says it facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and accuses UN agencies of not distributing it efficiently.

Looting has also depleted aid supplies within the Gaza Strip, with nearly 100 food aid trucks raided on Nov. 16.

"The women I met had all either lost family members, were separated from their families, had relatives buried under rubble, or were themselves injured or sick," Sunghay said of his stay in the Gaza Strip.

"Breaking down in front of me, they desperately pleaded for a ceasefire."