GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – A consignment of coronavirus vaccines arranged by a rival of President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, lifting the blockades of the blocked area and embarrassing the Palestinian leader before the national election.
The 20,000 doses of Russian Sputnik V, donated by the United Arab Emirates and organized by Abbas rival Mohammed Dahlan, entered the Palestinian enclave through its border with Egypt. A truck carrying a large banner of Emirati leaders and a message of resignation passed through the Rafah junction in the southern Gaza Strip.
The delivery comes a few days after the Palestinian Authority in West Bank, chaired by Abbas, managed to deliver only 2,000 doses of the same type of vaccine to Israel via Gaza, which delayed the shipment for several days. Sunday’s delivery was apparently aimed in part at making Abbas’ government look ineffective.
Dahlan, a former senior member of Abbas’ Fatah party, has been living in exile in Abu Dhabi since speaking out with the Palestinian leader in 2011.
Gaza has been ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas since 2007, when it took control of the territory from Abbas’ forces.
Together, the vaccines are enough for 11,000 people, a small fraction of Gaza’s 2 million people. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health said the vaccination would begin on Monday with frontline medical workers and “honorary dignitaries”.
It is estimated that Gaza needs 2.6 million doses to vaccinate people aged 16 and over.
Dahlan, a former security chief of Abbas’ Fatah party, had to flee Gaza during the 2007 Hamas takeover. But over the past few years, he has restored ties with the group thanks to their shared hostility towards Abbas.
The Palestinians plan to hold their first parliamentary election in 15 years in May. Vaccine delivery is likely to improve the position of Dahlan and his Fatah splinter group, called the Democratic Reform Bloc, in the vote.
Abbas has prevented Dahlan from running in the ballot box, but his group members plan to compete and place them as a possible king in the election between Hamas and Fatah.
The health authorities in Gaza have reported more than 54,000 coronavirus infections and 543 deaths.
Israel has faced international criticism for largely excluding Palestinians in its occupied West Bank and Gaza from its extremely successful vaccination campaign.
Law groups say it is an obligation to use an occupying force to share the vaccinations with the Palestinians. Israel conquered East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war, territories that the Palestinians want for their future state.
Israel denies that it has such an obligation, saying that it is its own citizens, as well as Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem who have been annexed by Israel. It says the Palestinian Authority is responsible for health care in the areas it administers under interim peace agreements.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but maintained a blockade with Egypt over the area in an effort he said was intended to prevent Hamas from arming.