HRW, UN call on Israel to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinians News
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HRW, UN call on Israel to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinians

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and UN human rights experts have demanded that Israel provide equal COVID-19 vaccine access to Palestinians living in the Israel-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

According to the Israeli Health Ministry, Israel has “vaccinated a larger share of its population against COVID-19 than any other country.” However, experts say Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are excluded from the impressive vaccination numbers. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the West Bank and Gaza have a combined 171,739 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,889 deaths.

UN officials Michael Lynk, Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, and Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to health, argue that Israel is “required under the Fourth Geneva Convention” to provide health services in an occupied territory like Gaza or the West Bank.

Similarly, HRW believes “Israeli authorities have the obligation to fully respect the human rights of Palestinians in the occupied territory, including their right to health, using as a benchmark the rights they grant to Israeli citizens.” Omar Shakir, an HRW expert on Israel and Palestine, further commented that “nothing can justify” vaccine access that is dependent on ethnicity.

Israeli officials say they are not responsible for Palestinian vaccination and cite the Oslo Accords, a series of agreements between Israel and Palestine, which state that “authority will be transferred to the Palestinians” on health matters. On Monday, US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called Israel’s actions “racist” in an interview with Democracy Now. Israel has not changed its position on vaccines in Palestine despite these objections.

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