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Palestinian Authority announces new COVID restrictions as cases surge

27 February 2021
 Dan Ackermann

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday announced fresh coronavirus restrictions, including a partial lockdown, for the occupied West Bank as COVID-19 cases surge.

The big picture: The new measures come as Israel, which leads the world in vaccinations, faces increased pressure to ensure Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have equal access to vaccines.

  • The Israeli prime minister’s office announced this week that the country will send a "symbolic amount" of vaccines to the Palestinian Authority and to several countries that have asked for assistance, Axios' Barak Ravid reported.
  • While the Palestinian Authority has started a limited inoculation campaign, with more vaccine shipments on the way, per The New York Times, it remains unclear when the majority of the more than 5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will have access to vaccines.

Details: The West Bank restrictions, set to begin on Sunday, will last at least 12 days, per the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

  • Most schools must close and universities will be required to shift to virtual instruction.
  • The restrictions include a ban on most travel between provinces and to and from Jerusalem, an overnight curfew and a ban on most movement Fridays and Saturdays.
  • Weddings, parties and funerals will also be prohibited.

By the numbers: The West Bank and Gaza have recorded more than 181,900 COVID-19 cases and 2,025 deaths since the pandemic began, per Johns Hopkins University data.

  • The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Saturday that the West Bank reported 910 new cases and five deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the Times.

Go deeper: Blinken asks for Israeli help in facilitating vaccines to Palestinians

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.