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School of Law

The Gaza Strip has been under siege for years, COVID-19 could be catastrophic

Professor Neve Gordon wrote an opinion piece for The Nation discussing the Gaza Strip’s ill-preparedness to tackle an outbreak of Coronavirus

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View of Gaza during 2000s

Credit: Al Jazeera English https://flic.kr/p/63oF5P

Neve Gordon, Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Queen Mary University of London, wrote an opinion piece for The Nation discussing the Gaza Strip’s ill-preparedness to tackle an outbreak of Coronavirus. He writes: “All experts know that prisons are breeding grounds for the virus. In the wake of the outbreak, Iran immediately released 70,000 prisoners, while other countries are following suit. The problem for Gaza, of course, is that Gaza itself is a prison, and, after years of siege, it is an extremely dilapidated one at that. The Palestinians of Gaza have no room to practice the social distancing recommended by public health experts, and their health care system, which for decades has been starved of resources, will be unable to cope.”

Read the full piece.

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Professor Gordon is a member of the International State Crime Initiative

 

 

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