ISRAEL has been accused of “vaccine apartheid,” with the Palestinian Authority alleging that Tel Aviv has blocked doses of the Russian Sputnik V treatment from reaching the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority said on Monday that its request for the transfer of the coronavirus vaccines to Gaza had been refused by the Israeli authorities.

“Today, 2,000 doses of the … vaccine were transferred to enter the Gaza Strip, but the occupation authorities prevented their entry," Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said in a statement.

“These doses were intended for medical staff working in intensive-care rooms designated for Covid-19 patients and staff working in emergency departments.”

While the world lauds the success of the Israeli vaccination programme, Gaza’s two million people have not received any doses so far.

Israel insists that, under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for healthcare in the occupied territories.

But rights organisations have stressed that international law — in particular the Geneva conventions — obliges Tel Aviv, as the occupying power, to respect the right to health of the protected population. 

They cite article eight of the fourth Geneva Convention, which states that “protected persons may in no circumstances renounce in part or in entirety the rights secured to them by the present convention.”

In Britain, Jewish Voice for Labour said: “Palestinian life is not up for debate. The medical apartheid system continues to rear its ugly head, even as doses are starting to get distributed in Palestine.”

In the West Bank, only 5,000 doses have been administered to date.

New World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweal warned against “vaccine nationalism” yesterday, saying that a failure to ease trade restrictions  would slow progress towards ending the pandemic and could erode economic growth in all countries — rich and poor.