Israel is set to deliver 5,000 COVID-19 vaccinations to the Palestinian Authority so that it may vaccinate 2,500 health care professionals, Ynet reported on Friday citing an unnamed PA official.
The official claimed no decision had been made about sharing these doses with the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.
However, the report is unbacked by any official statements by the PA.IDF sources, according to Walla!, said Israel means to present the PA with four times more doses, 20,000, to be delivered in two operations of 10,000 doses in each delivery. The report linked this decision with another one, to offer the vaccination to all medical teams in the West Bank, including those serving Israelis in Jewish settlements.
Israel was slammed at the UN and elsewhere for allegedly not helping Palestinians during COVID-19, but no other country offered to help them either.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad Malki accused Israel of not providing the Palestinians with vaccines when addressing the UNSC during its monthly meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The occupying power has not provided any vaccine to the Palestinian people under occupation to this day, insisting that it is under no obligation to do so," he said.
The PA made the same accusation at the WHO Executive Board meeting on Tuesday.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan told the United Nations Security Council that this is a "blood libel." Referring to the ancient antisemitic idea Jews kidnap Christian children to take their blood and use them to bake Matza for Passover - an idea so vicious it sparked several pogroms in Jewish history despite countless evidence that it is false.
"Anyone who joins the Palestinian campaign of lies either doesn’t know the facts or is motivated by politics or antisemitism," the ambassador said. Before Israel closed its land borders to prevent further surges in COVID-19 infection cases, some Palestinians were able to enter the country to work in agriculture and construction. Israeli health experts pointed out that, due to the close relations between both societies, it would be Israel's own interest to offer West Bank Palestinians such vaccinations.