Restaurants in Gaza to reopen following coronavirus lockdown to ease economic suffering

Restaurants in Gaza were to be allowed to reopen from Monday, the economy ministry in the Hamas-run enclave announced, following pleas from restaurant owners to ease economic suffering.

"It was decided to allow restaurants and cafes in the [Gaza] Strip to reopen their doors to customers starting from today,” the ministry said in a statement.

Under the decision based on health ministry recommendations, restaurants must continue to observe social distancing rules, it said.

Since the middle of March, the Hamas-led government has imposed strict measures to avoid a widespread outbreak of COVID-19.

Schools, universities, mosques and restaurants have been closed.

So far Gaza has recorded only 17 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, all Palestinians returning from outside the Gaza Strip.

Those who contracted the virus have been placed in isolation immediately upon their return.

There are no confirmed cases among Palestinians who stayed inside Gaza, according to Hamas, the Islamist movement that has controlled the coastal enclave since 2007.

Gaza's population is overwhelmingly Muslim and most people are observing the holy month of Ramadan, including fasting from sunrise to sunset before eating meals with their families.

Read also: How coronavirus has changed the way Muslims celebrate Ramadan

Salah Abu Haseera, head of the Committee for Restaurants, Hotels and Touristic Services in Gaza, told AFP the ministry's decision "came after an appeal to open restaurants to avoid further losses and a serious recession".

Restaurants reopening could allow some 2,500 people to return to work, he said.

Gaza, besieged by Israel for 13 years, suffers from poverty rates close to 50 percent.

Israel has fought three wars against Gaza since 2008.

In the West Bank, which is controlled by a rival Palestinian government loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, restaurants remain closed.

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