JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel has agreed to hand over 5,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to the Palestinians to immunize frontline medical workers, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s office announced on Sunday.
It was the first time that Israel had confirmed the transfer of vaccines to the Palestinians, who were far behind in Israel’s aggressive vaccination campaign and had not yet received any vaccines.
The World Health Organization has expressed concern over the differences between Israel and Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and international human rights groups and UN experts have said Israel is responsible for the well-being of Palestinians in these areas. Israel says that under interim peace agreements reached in the 1990s, it is not responsible for the Palestinians and has not received any requests for assistance.
Gantz’s office said early Sunday that the transfer had been approved. It had no further details on when that would happen. There were no immediate comments from Palestinian officials.
Israel is one of the world leaders to vaccinate its population after the international drug giants Pfizer and Moderna were acquired. The Ministry of Health says almost one-third of Israel’s 9.3 million people received the first dose of the vaccine, while about 1.7 million people received both doses.
The campaign includes the Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians living in the annexed eastern Jerusalem. But Palestinians living on the West Bank under the autonomous government of the Palestinian Authority and those living under the Hamas regime in Gaza are not included.
The Palestinian Authority sought to obtain doses through a WHO program known as COVAX. But the program, aimed at obtaining vaccines for the necessary countries, was slow to get off the ground.
The dispute reflects global inequality in access to vaccines, as affluent countries suck up most of the doses, leaving poor countries even further behind to combat the public health and economic consequences of the pandemic. It also emerged as another hotspot in the decades-old Middle East conflict, even as the virus devastated both sides.