Six Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Thursday asked the Israeli Supreme Court to order the vaccination of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank.
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"The Palestinian Authority has an insufficient number of vaccines, whereas in what is practically the same area, the population of Israeli citizens and residents is almost fully vaccinated," the Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights (PHRI) explained.
"This situation cannot be justified in any way. It violates both binding Israeli and international law as well as medical ethics, morality, and sheer humanity."
This request came at a time when Israel has already vaccinated over 50 percent of its population. Meanwhile, vaccination in Gaza and the West Bank is proceeding at an extraordinarily slow pace given that local authorities have vaccines for less than 1.5 percent of the population.
The petition also coincides with one of the most critical moments of the pandemic in the West Bank, which last week recorded a new peak of infections and positive rates of around 25 percent.
Currently, while 13,500 people out of three million inhabitants have been vaccinated in the West Bank, only 16,000 people out of two million people living in Gaza have been inoculated.
So far, the Palestinian territories have received some 134,000 vaccines, 60,000 of which were purchased by the COVAX facility.
Two weeks ago, Israel began a campaign to vaccinate Palestinians residing in the West Bank who have permits to work. This epidemiological measure, however, is expected to benefit at most 120,000 people.