Amnesty accuses Israel of 'institutionalised discrimination' over vaccines

“This move flagrantly violated Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under international law.”

The United Nations in January called on Israel to “ensure swift and equitable access” to Covid-19 vaccines for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, citing the Fourth Geneva Convention.

But Israel’s health minister Yuli Edelstein disagreed, telling the BBC that month: “I think that it’s Israel’s obligation, first and foremost, to its citizens. They pay taxes for that, don’t they?” and later saying it was in the country’s “interest, not our legal obligation” to vaccinate Palestinians in those areas. 

Mr Edelstein also cited the Oslo Peace Accords, which he argued last month “say loud and clear that the Palestinians have to take care of their own health.”

Israel last month began to vaccinate approximately 100,000 Palestinian labourers who hold Israeli work permits.

And last week, Palestinian authorities accepted a donation of 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China, adding to shipments received previously from Russia and the UAE. They also belong to the WHO-backed COVAX vaccine sharing programme.