Israel will be eligible for thousands of Palestinian workers working in Israel and the Occupied West Bank area for COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the coordinator of the Israeli government’s government activities in the territories (COGAT).
COGAT officials told Reuters on Sunday that Palestinian medical teams would be put in place near checkpoints separating the West Bank from Israeli territory, where qualifying Palestinians could receive the COVID-19 vaccine for Moderna.
The Red Cross celebrated the initiative and said in a statement to Reuters that more needs to be done to improve access to vaccines in the Palestinian territories. Israel maintains strict control of the border between Israeli territories, Gaza and the West Bank, and has allowed only about 32,000 vaccines in the two Palestinian territories, which together house more than 5.2 million people.
“The Palestinian people remain largely unprotected against COVID-19, and we would be happy to see more such initiatives. “We want all Israelis and Palestinians to have full, equitable access to vaccines,” said a Red Cross official.
This inequality has led to much criticism of Israel, which has otherwise received praise for the pace of its vaccination efforts. Human rights groups have argued that Israel is responsible for providing more vaccines in the occupied territories under its obligations under the Geneva Convention.
Palestinian officials in the West Bank released new lock-in measures this weekend as the area faces a surge in COVID-19 infections while Israeli officials continue to vaccinate the country’s larger population.