GAZA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Five Palestinian ministers arrived on Friday in the besieged Gaza Strip to help its efforts to combat the coronavirus that has been fast spreading in the densely populated enclave since Aug. 24.
Headed by Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila, the other four members of the delegation are the minister of culture, the minister of public work, the minister of women affairs and the minister of entrepreneurship and empowerment.
The security sources in Gaza said the Palestinian delegation crossed into Gaza through the Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing between the northern Gaza Strip and Israel.
Meanwhile, 20 truckloads of medical supplies were sent through the Israeli-controlled commercial crossing point of Kerem Shalom into the southern Gaza Strip.
Islamic Hamas movement, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007, imposed a lockdown after the serious spread of the COVID-19 in the enclave which has already been suffering high rates of poverty and unemployment.
The Hamas-run health ministry has confirmed 697 COVID-19 cases since March, including 577 since Aug. 24.
In a press statement, the ministry said the deadly virus has claimed the lives of five Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip since March, including four since Aug. 24.
Observers in Gaza said the five Palestinian ministers' visit to Gaza could be a positive sign of ending more than 13 years of internal division between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. Enditem
