JERUSALEM – The Israeli government on Sunday approved a measure to vaccinate tens of thousands of Palestinian workers, after facing strong criticism about the small number of vaccines it provided to Palestinians living under its military occupation.
Israeli medical teams will soon start vaccinating Palestinians who are authorized to work in Israel or in settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to a note from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, a unit of the Ministry of Defense responsible for liaison with the Palestinians.
There are approximately 80,000 Palestinians who are allowed to work in Israel and about 30,000 who are allowed to work in the settlements. Most are construction workers, but some work on farms or in factories, stores, restaurants and other workplaces.
The tens of thousands of Palestinians working in Israel without official documents would not be eligible for vaccination.
A heated debate lasted for weeks over whether Israel is responsible for the health of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the blocked Gaza Strip. Human rights groups have argued that international law requires Israel to provide Palestinians with the same access to vaccines that their own citizens receive. But Israel’s policy advocates say the Palestinians took responsibility for health services when they signed the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.
As of Sunday, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has received 2,000 doses from Israel and 10,000 from Russia, according to Palestinian officials. Israel put the number of doses sent in 2,200 and promised to deliver another 3,000.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip obtained 20,000 doses from the United Arab Emirates and 2,000 from the Russian shipment to the Palestinian Authority.