Israel is leading the race of vaccinating people against COVID-19, yet the Palestinians haven’t even started receiving the vaccines.

More than a quarter of Israeli population, which is almost nine million, has received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine since 19 December, as confirmed by Israeli Health Ministry. However, the scenario is not the same in the occupied territories – West Bank and Gaza.

While the vaccination programme started with elderly people and front line workers, people aged 40 are also getting the jabs now. With Israel leading, the United Arab Emirates is just a little behind in the race.

However, except for the Palestinians residing in East Jerusalem, no other Palestinian territory has received the COVID vaccine. Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are entitled to Israeli health insurance since they have Israeli residency status and pay Israeli taxes.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 175,000 confirmed COVID cases and more than 1,960 deaths have been recorded in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. While case fatality rate in these areas is 1.1 percent, it is 0.7 percent in Israel (case fertility rate is the proportion of reported infections which result in a person dying).

The United Nations human rights organisation has released a statement claiming that it is Israel’s responsibility to provide COVID-19 vaccine to the Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza. The UN says differential access is “morally and legally” unacceptable under international law laid out in the Geneva Conventions on the regulation of occupied territories.

Nearly 133,000 Palestinians work in Israel and its settlements in the West Bank. There have been calls by various human rights organisations to give access to vaccine jabs to Palestinians coming into Israel for work, including the construction workers, who have become jobless due to coronavirus restrictions and lockdown.

However, Israeli health minister, Yuli Edelstein says, “We can also look into the so-called Oslo agreements where it says loud and clear that the Palestinians have to take care of their own health.”

The Oslo accords, signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, give the Palestinian Authority oversight of public health under the principles of self-determination. But, the UN says international law takes priority over these accords.