Amid an outbreak of the coronavirus in the Gaza Strip in recent days, Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam military wing announced the death of one of its members, a “righteous knight” of the terror organization.

“Rabah Hassan Shaaban Laabad, 61 years, old from the Ribat mosque in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip… died today… after being infected with the coronavirus, in order to go to his Lord after a blessed life full of giving, jihad, sacrifice and defense of al-Aqsa, all for the sake of God,” the Izz al-Din al-Qassam brigades said in a statement, Times of Israel reported.

Hamas imposed a two-day full lockdown on the Gaza Strip on Monday evening for the first time since the pandemic began due to the confirmation of coronavirus cases within the Strip, with all previous cases being confined to quarantine facilities by the Rafah crossing next to the Egyptian border.

Nine additional coronavirus cases were discovered on Wednesday in the Strip, six in the Maghazi refugee camp where the previous cases were discovered and three other cases in northern Gaza. The apparent spread of the coronavirus in the crowded enclave, where poverty reigns and healthcare services are extremely limited is sowing panic among local health authorities.

The Strip has avoided an outbreak of the coronavirus until now, with all cases in Gaza to date found in Gazans returning from abroad. Since all residents from abroad were required to quarantine in facilities by the Rafah crossing with Egypt for 21 days before they entered the Strip, there were no reports of cases within the Strip itself.

“We managed to thwart the virus during this whole time, even as the virus spread across the region and the world. But we always warned that the scenario of the virus entering the Strip was possible,” a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday night. “This scenario has now become a reality.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)