began at half past seven in the evening, Thursday, the night-time strict closure in all parts of the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to control the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
Iyad Al-Bazam, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, said that the police forces completed their preparations early this evening, and deployed massively in various governorates to implement the closure.
Al-Bazm stated that the ministry had mobilized its forces by 50 percent, in order to implement the new measures, calling on citizens to cooperate and commit to fully implementing the measures, until the feasibility of that was realized and the current epidemic situation was besieged.
He pointed out that evening prayers and Taraweeh prayers, starting today, for a week, will be in homes.
He pointed out that on Friday and Saturday, the movement of vehicles is prohibited day and night, while allowing the movement of citizens by pedestrians and the work of facilities that their owners can access without using vehicles during the day until the sunset call to prayer.
The Gaza Interior Ministry spokesman said, "We will be in a week with a new assessment of the epidemiological situation, and we hope that these measures will bear fruit, and that we will be able to reduce the number of infections with the Coronavirus."
Al-Bazm added, "It is very important to reach the epidemiological situation to a better reality, so that we can deal in a manner appropriate to the last ten days of Ramadan, but this matter depends on the citizens´ full commitment to preventive measures, safety precautions, and preventing congestion."
He continued, "Facing the epidemic is a shared responsibility between government agencies and citizens, and if the citizen does not cooperate with us, we will be facing a very difficult reality."
He indicated that diligence is being made to move away from the total closure through partial and focused measures, in order to avoid its heavy burdens that burden citizens in light of the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr season.
He said, "If we find an improvement in the epidemiological situation, we may go to measures that help people practice religious rites and practice aspects of life related to Eid al-Fitr, but we must intensify commitment during this period."
He called on the owners of the facilities not to be complacent in taking preventive measures and safety measures while providing service to citizens.
He added, "We may have to close facilities if they violate them, and we will announce the names of the facilities that we will close in case they violate safety and prevention measures."
