Israel Blocks Russian-Made Vaccines for Gaza

Hamas-run Gaza has yet to receive any

The office, known as Cogat, told the AFP news agency that the PA had requested to transfer 1,000 vaccine doses to Gaza but that “this request is waiting for a political decision”.

Citing Israeli sources, AFP reported that allowing the transfer from the West Bank to Gaza was not a simple administrative measure under the purview of Cogat, but rather a political decision possibly linked to talks between Israel and Hamas, the political group that governs the Gaza Strip.

More than two million Palestinians are packed into Gaza, an area the size of the US city of Detroit. Under a blockade by Israel since 2006, the Strip has been described as “the world’s largest open-air prison”.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said in a statement that Israel bore “full responsibility” for blocking the shipment.

“Today, 2,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine were transferred to enter the Gaza Strip, but the occupation authorities prevented their entry,” Kaila said.

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

Gaza has yet to receive any vaccines. Authorities there have reported more than 53,000 cases and at least 537 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Israel, which is carrying out one of the world’s fastest vaccination campaigns per capita, has faced international criticism for not sharing its vaccination supplies with Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Israeli-blockaded Gaza. 

Amid the criticism, earlier this month Israel sent the PA 5,000 doses to be administered in the occupied West Bank, where nearly 3 million Palestinians reside. 

Delayed deliveries

The PA began its first vaccination – administered to frontline healthcare workers – at the start of this month with an initial procurement of 10,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, as well as the Moderna doses supplied by Israel.

But the general rollout of the vaccine campaign in the West Bank has been pushed back due to a delay in deliveries.

The PA is expecting some two million doses ordered from various manufacturers, in addition to vaccines from the UN-backed Covax programme, set up to help less wealthy nations procure vaccines.

Once the vaccine arrives it plans to start vaccinating the general public in the occupied West Bank while sharing stock with Hamas [aka Gaza]

Earlier on Monday, PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said that the launch of vaccinations for the general public would be announced “at a later time” when sufficient supplies arrive.

It was unclear whether Israel, which controls all imports and exports to and from the occupied West Bank, played any role in the delays.

Source: Middle East Eye

6 Comments
  1. ken says

    They might sort of consider themselves lucky.

    Don’t know how anyone can create a vaccine without knowing the genetic makeup of the pathogen. As the covid mythical virus has not been isolated, none of Koch’s protocols applied it is surely a mystery.

    1. Mark says

      I don’t know where the claims come from that the virus has ‘never been isolated’ and that we ‘do not know its genetic makeup’. I’m not looking to start an argument – merely observing that the Chinese completely mapped its genetic sequence, isolated the virus which causes SARS CO-v-2 and shared it on Virological.org more than a year ago, when the world had still – incredibly – seen no sign of human-to-human transmission.

      https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/01/china-releases-genetic-data-new-coronavirus-now-deadly

      And it would be difficult to muster any support for a defense of “Oh, you can’t believe anything the Chinese say”, considering the genetic information was posted by Edward Holmes, PhD, University of Sydney, on behalf of the Chinese medical group. The information was gratefully received and praised by Dr. Michael Osterholm, PhD, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Seems like broad international recognition of the discovery to me.

      If there is something else the global medical community does not know about the virus, I understand perfectly – they keep going on about how we are ‘still learning’ although they claim to know enough about it to produce a 90%+-effective vaccine in about a fifth of the time it would ordinarily take. But it is not the genetic makeup of the virus; they are pretty confident they know that. If you can believe they know anything, which remains a topic for debate considering the ‘expert’ stance on masking and lockdowns.

      1. Andra Saltzberg says
  2. Romeo Leblanc says

    And the TERRORIST acts of israel towards the people of Palestine continue and the ICC does nothing for this clear example of Genocide from israhell!

  3. Jerry Hood says

    Ash claiming to be Nazi ‘ survivors’ in their inhumane, Mengele attitudes toward the Palestinians!!

  4. Andra Saltzberg says

    This singular move by brutally self-serving Israelis should be welcomed by the Palestinians as having “saved the day & countless lives”…at least for now.

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Anti-Empire