Palestine

RAMALLAH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Saturday urged Israel to release a Palestinian prisoner diagnosed with COVID-19, three days after he was arrested by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, accused Israel of violating the international law by continuing the detention of the 21-year-old, demanding his immediate release.

GAZA, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Gaza authorities on Saturday declared that 1,000 new quarantine units for patients and suspected cases of the novel coronavirus in the coastal enclave are ready to be put into use.

According to a press statement by the Islamic Hamas movement, the local authorities completed the construction of quarantine units able to accommodate 1,000 people, half of which were built in the southern town of Rafah and the other half in the northern part of Gaza.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — At the construction site in Tel Aviv, Jamal Salman and the other Palestinian workers wore gloves and masks, and their employer provided apartments for them to stay overnight.

But his wife, alarmed by the news about the coronavirus outbreak in Israel, called him every night from the West Bank, begging him to come home. He came back early this week.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — When Nima Amraa returned to the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt earlier this month, she was surprised to learn she was being placed in a makeshift quarantine center set up by the ruling Hamas group.

But her initial jitters turned to fear when two fellow travelers in another facility tested positive for the coronavirus — the first cases to be confirmed in Gaza.

RAMALLAH, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Tuesday slammed Israel for the treatment of Palestinian workers.

Palestinian government spokesperson Ibrahim Milhem said that Israel's treatment of Palestinian workers at their workplaces inside Israel under the threat of the coronavirus pandemic is "racist and inhumane."

On Monday, Israeli forces let go of a Palestinian worker near the Beit Sera village's military checkpoint, north of the West Bank, despite his difficult health conditions and without informing him that he was infected with the coronavirus.

RAMALLAH, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian man was declared dead Sunday night after being shot by Israeli soldiers near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

Another Palestinian was hospitalized after being lightly injured by Israeli gunfire in the same incident, the ministry said in a statement.

The two men were driving to their home in the village of Nilin, west of Ramallah, before they saw a military checkpoint at the village's entrance, where they were shot at.

RAMALLAH, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Monday submitted "observations" to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on its jurisdiction on occupied territories, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.

The submission is in response to the ICC prosecutor's request for determining the scope of its territorial jurisdiction in Palestinian areas.

Palestine is the sole sovereign over the territories occupied in 1967, comprised of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, the ministry said in a statement.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian trying to plant explosives near Israel’s border security fence with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the Israeli military said.

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said the man was one of its members, but it did not disclose what he was doing in the area.

In a statement, the Israeli military said soldiers opened fire at two Palestinians placing an explosive device next to the fence in the Hamas Islamist-run enclave.

It said one of the men was killed and a military bulldozer removed his body.

RAMALLAH, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization Saeb Erekat on Thursday said that the U.S. and Israel are "partnering" in annexation plans through ongoing settlement construction.

"(Donald) Trump's administration is now partnering with Israel, through the recently formed annexation committee, with its new announcements for more construction and expansion of Israel's illegal colonial settlements on lands belonging to the state of Palestine," Erekat said in a press statement.

RAMALLAH, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians are calling on the international community to help resolve their conflict with Israel, while rejecting the U.S. peace plan, known as "The Deal of the Century".

A senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official on Monday called for the establishment of an international assembly based on rights and justice, so as to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.