Palestinian hospitals are over-care and intensive care units operating at 100% capacity with coronavirus patients in some areas of the West Bank, Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Tuesday.
Palestinian cities have introduced full locks over the past two weeks to control COVID-19 infections, even as nearby Israel has begun lifting restrictions while e ahead with the world’s fastest vaccination campaign.
“The percentage of hospital stays in some areas has reached more than 100%,” Shtayyeh said in Ramallah. “The number of casualties is rising and the number of deaths is rising every day, forcing us to take drastic, direct and unique measures. “
The West Bank and Gaza, home to 5.2 million Palestinians, have received around 34,700 vaccine doses to date. These came from small donations from Israel and Russia in addition to 20,000 sent by the United Arab Emirates to Gaza.
Meanwhile in Israel, restaurants opened Sunday as the country maintained a fast pace of major vaccines.
“I took millions of doses, now I have to inject tens of millions of doses. I am currently in talks with Pfizer and Moderna to introduce more,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Radio Radio, campaigning ahead of the March 23 election.
Israel has 53% of its 9 million population given at least one dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, according to Ministry of Health data, and more than 40% have received both doses.
The contrast did not go unnoticed among Palestinians.
On Monday, Israel expanded its vaccination program to include Palestinian workers working in Israel and in their West Bank towns.
Many Palestinians argue that Israel is neglecting its responsibilities as an occupying power by not bringing them into the mass distribution. “The number of vaccines in Israel is very high,” said 75-year-old Saji Khalil. “Even the Palestinian workers who vaccinated, did it to serve the Israeli community, without looking out for the welfare of the workers.”
However, under the terms of Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for the health care of its own population and has reiterated that it receives its own vaccines through the DA scheme.
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Israeli paramedic vaccinates Palestinian worker against COVID-19 at border crossing
(Photo: Gettyimages)
Israeli officials confirmed they were not responsible for covering for the failure of the PA.
Many Palestinians are dissatisfied with their leaders. The PA caught fire from rights groups last week after admitting it had sent 10% of the COVID-19 doses it received to VIPs.
Firas Narawesh, of Ramallah, said the government had failed to give vaccines to ordinary Palestinians, and that they had “distributed vaccines unequally and unequally with clear favor and corruption.”