The Coordinator on Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT), the Defense Ministry’s liaison to the Palestinians, denies widely circulated reports that the IDF demolished a Palestinian coronavirus testing center in the West Bank.
Ra’id Maswadeh, an engineer and Hebron resident, says the IDF destroyed a coronavirus facility outside of Hebron on his property.
“My family decided to donate our land at the northern entrance of Hebron for the purpose of constructing a Covid-19 test clinic,” Maswadeh told Middle East Eye on Tuesday.
While a building belonging to him was demolished, no official Palestinian source has yet confirmed that a coronavirus testing facility was being built on the site. COGAT claims that Maswadeh decided on his own to call his property a coronavirus testing facility as a ploy to prevent its demolition. Maswadeh’s original plan was to build a building for car exhibitions, COGAT says.
“We stress that we received no applications about establishing a coronavirus facility either from the Palestinian Authority or from international organizations,” a COGAT spokesperson says.
Local PA officials in Hebron tell The Times of Israel they had no knowledge of plans to build a coronavirus testing facility on the site.
— Aaron Boxerman
Ra’id Maswadeh inspects the rubble of his facility after it was demolished by Israel for allegedly being built without the necessary permits, at the northern entrance of the West Bank city of Hebron, July 21, 2020. (Hazem Bader/AFP)
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