A number of customers of a restaurant in Gaza City line up in front of a "smart sterilization device" designed by a Palestinian woman bent on fighting the emerging coronavirus, despite the challenges already facing the Gaza Strip, where she lives.

The height of the device is more than two meters, and is composed of a metal box and equipped with four sensors. A person stands in front of it and puts his hands in an opening, and they are sterilized by a substance that is also sprayed on the face and body before giving a signal to open the door for him.

The device measures the person’s temperature as well. If it exceeds 39 degrees, a red light appears and the person is prevented from entering.

The device also counts the people in front of the door, and if the number reaches ten, it gives an alert signal.

Heba Al Hindi, 37, leads the local "innovation makers" team in Gaza, which consists of six technicians and engineers. The team has successfully developed this sterilizer.

The team manufactured ten devices, the prices of which ranged from $ 550 to $1,500, and sold them to supermarkets, large restaurants, bakeries and private local hospitals.

Hindi has a mathematics degree.

"Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Gaza has imported devices for measuring temperature and others for sterilization," she told AFP.

In the Gaza Strip, about 6000 cases and 31 deaths from the coronavirus were recorded, while in the West Bank, about 45,000 cases and more than 400 deaths were counted since the beginning of the pandemic in March.

After the first local case was recorded in the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Interior imposed, in mid-August, a comprehensive curfew and closed the crossings. However, after about two months, these measures were eased, which had "catastrophic repercussions," according to economist Maher Tabaa.

While an evening curfew is still maintained, the Ministry of Interior allowed cafes, restaurants and markets to open, and mosques and churches reopened to worshipers.

- Economic collapse -
"My country is poor and besieged. I am proud that our innovations compete with devices imported from different countries of the world. We want to raise the name of Palestine," Al-Hindi said.

The innovation obtained a patent from the Ministry of Economy in Ramallah. Its manufacture and use was authorized by the Hamas government in Gaza.

Israel prohibits the supply of electronic and electrical devices from the Strip to the West Bank and Israel or abroad.

Matar Matar, a hospitality officer at the "Taboon" restaurant in western Gaza, expresses his satisfaction with the increase in the number of customers in the first week after the restaurant reopened.

The 30-year-old says, "As soon as we heard about this device on social media, we bought it. It is a safe device that circulates the body and hands and attracts the attention of customers, reassures them and encourages them to come to our restaurant."

"The device in the restaurant helps reduce crowding, and it is more efficient and saves time, effort and money," he added.

The Ministry of Health affirms that this device can contribute to relieving congestion and thus reduces the possibility of the virus spreading.

The enclave, which has been besieged by Israel since 2007, is facing stifling crises. The total closure has worsened the economic situation in the sector, which is home to about two million people, of whom about two thirds are poor.

"We are tired of Corona, the economic and living conditions are getting more difficult. It is disastrous," said forty-year-old Moein Abbas, who is the owner of an ice cream shop in Gaza.

Many owners of shops and small stores cannot buy the device because of its price, including Muhammad al-Jamali, who is the owner of a small shop in western Gaza. But he says that he only buys bread "from a bakery who puts this machine on because it makes me feel comfortable."

"I feel proud that I am participating in the creation of this device that people are using. Finally, we have a technological development registered in Gaza," said Muhammad Nattat, 23, a computer technician and member of the innovation team.