Gaza restaurants to reopen as virus lockdown eased
Hamas-run economy ministry says eateries must observe social distancing rules; decision follows requests from restaurant owners suffering economically from restrictions
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Restaurants in Gaza were to be allowed to reopen from Monday, the economy ministry in the Hamas-run enclave announced, following pleas from restaurant owners to ease economic suffering.
“It was decided to allow restaurants and cafes in the Strip to reopen their doors to customers starting from today,” the ministry said in a statement.
Under the decision based on the Hamas-run health ministry’s recommendations, restaurants must continue to observe social distancing rules, it said.
Since the middle of March, the Hamas terror group has imposed strict measures to avoid a widespread outbreak of COVID-19.
Schools, universities, mosques and restaurants have been closed.
So far Gaza has recorded only 17 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, all of them in Palestinians returning from outside the Gaza Strip.
Those who contracted the virus have been placed in isolation immediately upon their return.
There are no confirmed cases among Palestinians who stayed inside Gaza, according to Hamas, which has controlled the coastal enclave since 2007.
Gaza’s population is overwhelmingly Muslim and most people are observing the holy month of Ramadan, including fasting from sunrise to sunset before eating large meals with their families.
Salah Abu Haseera, head of the Committee for Restaurants, Hotels and Touristic Services in Gaza, told AFP the ministry’s decision “came after an appeal to open restaurants to avoid further losses and a serious recession.”
Restaurants reopening could allow some 2,500 people to return to work, he said.
in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 27, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)
Gaza, blockaded by Israel for 13 years, suffers from poverty rates close to 50 percent. Israel says the measures are necessary to prevent arms from reaching Hamas, with which it has fought three wars since 2008.
In the West Bank, the largest part of the territories claimed by the Palestinians for a future state but controlled by a rival government, restaurants remain closed.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.