The Palestinian Authority said Friday it canceled a deal that would have seen Israel provide it with one million Covid-19 vaccine doses as the jabs are “about to expire”.
An initial delivery of Pfizer doses failed to conform “to the specifications contained in the agreement, and accordingly, prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh instructed the minister of health to cancel the agreement,” government spokesman Ibrahim Melhem said.
Liars. You tried to load off your expired vaccines. Just another war crime by Israel. https://t.co/MBBXzCwqqZ pic.twitter.com/TI0vK8DQLw
— J. Shawa جاسم الشوا (@shawajason) June 18, 2021
“The government refuses to receive vaccines that are about to expire,” he added, in a statement carried by the official WAFA news agency.
More than 55 percent of Israel’s population – some 5.1 million people – have received both doses of the vaccine.
On the Palestinian side, just over 260,000 people have received their two doses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Some five million people live in the occupied West Bank and besieged strip.
(The New Arab, PC, Social Media)