Hamas blasts Israel for holding up some 2,000 vaccine doses for Gaza health workers

Hamas blasts Israel’s delay in allowing some 2,000 coronavirus vaccine doses destined for Gaza health workers into the territory as a “violation” of international law.

The Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, had planned to send the Russian Sputnik V doses through Israel to Gaza, a separate territory run by the terror group Hamas, which is sworn to the destruction of Israel.

But yesterday evening the PA health ministry said Israel had blocked the delivery.

Israel’s move marks “a real crime and a violation of all international laws and humanitarian standards,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem says.

A Palestinian policeman waves on a truck as it enters through the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip on September 1, 2020, after a Qatari-mediated deal with Israel. (SAID KHATIB / AFP)

COGAT, the Israeli military department that runs civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said yesterday that the PA had requested permission to transfer 1,000 vaccine doses to Gaza but that “this request is waiting for a political decision.”

The Knesset debated the matter yesterday, with some lawmakers calling for the conditioning of the delivery on Hamas releasing Israeli captives and soldiers’ bodies it holds.

The Palestinian Authority urges the World Health Organization to “condemn Israel” for the obstruction.