On Monday evening, the deputy of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Rawia al-Shawa, died after a struggle with the disease.

Her family said that al-Shawa died at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after she returned to the Gaza Strip after a treatment trip abroad.

She was elected to the First Legislative Council in 1996 as an independent deputy from the Gaza City constituency. She was reelected in the 2006 PLC elections. She remained a member of the Legislative Council until her death. She was known as a journalist and worked in the field of commerce.

“Palestine lost with the death of Professor Rawia al-Shawa one of the activists and one of the Palestinian writers who provided political and cultural life and struggled to defeat the occupation and achieve the aspirations of our people and the restoration of their rights,” government spokesman Yousuf al-Mahmoud said.

Al-Za’noun expressed his deepest condolences to the family of Al-Shawa.