Publications today indicate that Jerusalem has approved an international operation to vaccinate against the coronavirus thousands of traders from the Gaza Strip so that they can cross the border into Israel and travel to the West Bank. The operation is designed not only to reduce the growing spread of the pandemic in the Strip, but also to kickstart the Palestinian territories' struggling economy — two motivations that both Israel and Hamas share.
The outline agreed upon reportedly foresees the setup of a vaccination center at the Gaza Erez crossing point on the Israeli side. The center will be manned by foreign medical teams, probably by a humanitarian/relief organization. The Palestinian traders will be vaccinated with Pfizer doses, which is the same vaccine used by Israel in its immunization drive and recognized by Israeli authorities for the sake of the green passport system. Qatar will fund the purchase of the 14,000 doses for the two phases of vaccination of the 7,000 traders.
