 For more videos and people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. COVID-19 is continuing to spread rapidly across Palestine. The Israeli blockade is worsening this crisis. Authorities are worried that if drastic steps are not taken, the health system might collapse. Partial lockdowns have been imposed in different regions of Gaza and the West Bank, but a number of other problems are hampering the efforts of Palestinian authorities to combat the pandemic. This includes shortages in medicines, vital healthcare equipment such as test kits and financial difficulties. In the first week of December, authorities in Gaza had halted testing after running out of testing kits. The interruption came when one-third of COVID tests were coming back positive and alarmingly high rate of infection. Lack of testing would have halted any efforts of monitoring and containing the virus and caused a much larger outbreak. The World Health Organization was able to prevent such crisis by providing test kits for the next few days, but the long-term problem remains. Israeli blockades have devastated Palestine's health infrastructure. Moreover, the existing system is under severe strain as it also has to regularly deal with fatal injuries, gunshot wounds and other similar medical emergencies. Most of these are the result of Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza and assaults carried out by the Israeli military. Also, Gaza is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. Over 2 million people inhabit an area of 360 kilometres square. The number of hospitals in the region is grossly inadequate to accommodate them. On December 10th, the Palestine Chronicle reported that all the hospitals in Gaza were full. The occupancy rates had reached 100%. The Israeli Apartheid regime has created a permanent emergency in Palestine's healthcare. For years it has been on the brink of collapse. Agencies such as the WHO are able to provide temporary relief, but even they have their limitations. For instance, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or the UNRWA, caters to around 5.6 million refugees. In late November, the agency said they are stretched beyond capacity and are about to crash. The situation is a result of a massive fall in funding. The US, which was formerly UNRWA's largest donor, withdrew its funding in 2018. Saudi Arabia donated $50 million in 2018 to help fill the gap created by the US. But last year, it donated just $2 million. Israeli blockades and restrictions on movement have destroyed Palestinian infrastructure to the extent that Palestinians often have to rely on Israel to meet their essential needs. The human rights group Al-Haqq stated in its position paper on COVID-19 that the pandemic poses a disproportionate and substantial threat to a Palestinian society deliberately denied for decades the right to develop a functioning healthcare system. The biggest obstacle in the way of Palestinians access to healthcare is the denial of their right to self-determination. It is only with financial, social and cultural autonomy can they build the systems required to meet the needs of the people.