Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, has asked Israel to provide coronavirus vaccine doses in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, saying that the country was obligated to provide these doses to Palestinians under international law.

Home to approximately 2.8 million people, the Palestinian Authority(PA) in the West Bank has not publicly asked for Israeli assistance in procuring the vaccine

The Gaza strip, which is controlled by Hamas Islamist, is highly unlikely to publicly coordinate with Israel in any vaccination effort.

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However, the UK- based right group has said that Israel cannot keep ignoring its international obligations as an ‘occupying power’ and immediately ensure that the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza strip get equal and fair access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The PA is banking on the United Nations-backed COVAX programme to ensure that Palestinians living in the Israel-occupied regions get vaccinated.

They are expecting to receive its first vaccine doses next month through the COVAX programme, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.

Israel has already started inoculating its citizens, including Israeli settlers in the West Bank on December 19. Medical workers and people over 60 were given priority. Till now, the country has injected more than a million people.

Within a month, 2.25 million Israelis will be given two shots of Pfizer-BioNTech jab that is needed to optimum effect, Prime Minister of Israel said on Saturday.

Israel has recorded 451,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 3,400 deaths as of Tuesday, Israel’s health minister confirmed.

In the West Bank, more than 100,000 cases and 1,100 deaths were recorded, the Palestinian health ministry confirmed. In Gaza, the number of recorded cases was 43,134 along with 404 deaths.

Back in 1967, Israel had occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War. Although Israel had withdrawn from the Gaza strip, they continue to maintain a tight blockade there. According to the Jewish state, the blockade is necessary to keep a check on Hamas, an Islamist group. There have been three wars since 2008 between Israel and the Islamist group.

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Although contact has been made with potential vaccine suppliers, the health ministry would face challenges in storing the vaccine in the required sub-zero conditions, the PA said.