Israel has begun vaccinating Palestinians working in Israel and the occupied West Bank as part of a two-week voluntary COVID-19 vaccine drive.
Israel, which has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, had come under fire for failing to include the roughly 5.2 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza in its inoculation drive. Israeli officials argued the Oslo Accord instructed the Palestinians to manage their own health care, including the estimated 122,000 Palestinians working in Israel or its settlements.