Israel is celebrating an impressive, record-setting vaccination drive, having given initial jabs of coronavirus shots to more than a 10th of the population. But Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza can only watch and wait.
As the world ramps up what is already on track to become a highly unequal vaccination push – with people in richer nations first to be inoculated – the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories provides a stark example of the divide.
Israel transports batches of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine deep inside the West Bank. But they are only distributed to Jewish settlers, and not the roughly 2.7 million Palestinians living around them who may have to wait for weeks or months.
"I don't know how, but there must be a way to make us a priority, too?" said Mahmoud Kilani, a 31-year-old sports coach from the Palestinian city of Nablus. "Who cares about us? I don't think anybody is stuck on that question."
The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has told Israelis that the country could be the first to emerge from the pandemic. As well as a highly advanced healthcare system, part of the reason for the speed could be economics. A health ministry official said the country had paid $62 a dose, compared with the $19.50 the US is paying.
Heba Abu Asr, 35, a resident of Gaza, jolted when asked how she felt about others getting the vaccine first. "Are you seriously trying to compare us with Israel or any other country?" she asked. "We can't find work, food, or drink. We are under threat all the time. We do not even have any necessities for life."
Palestinians excluded from Israeli Covid vaccine rollout as jabs go to settlers
Human rights groups accuse Israel of dodging obligations to millions in occupied territories who may wait months for vaccination
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