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Pressure in Israel to Provide Vaccines to Palestinians

Children in Gaza, where coronavirus cases exceeded 600 on Friday. EPA)
Children in Gaza, where coronavirus cases exceeded 600 on Friday. EPA)
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Pressure in Israel to Provide Vaccines to Palestinians

Children in Gaza, where coronavirus cases exceeded 600 on Friday. EPA)
Children in Gaza, where coronavirus cases exceeded 600 on Friday. EPA)

A group of six Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups have appealed to Israel's Supreme Court to demand that the state provide vaccines to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

Joining Physicians for Human Rights-Israel in the petition to the court were: HaMoked: Centre for the Defense of the Individual; Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights; Gisha – Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement; Adalah: The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel; and Rabbis for Human Rights.

In their petition, the organizations emphasize that Israel has legal, moral, and ethical obligations towards the Palestinians, deriving from its occupation and ongoing control of Gaza and the West Bank.

These duties are anchored in international law as well as Israeli jurisprudence.

The Palestinian healthcare system and economy have been subjected for many years to severe restrictions imposed by Israel, which have led to a shortage of doctors and medical supplies, and difficulty dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 50 percent (more than five million) of the Israeli population has been vaccinated. In contrast, less than 50,000 Palestinians were vaccinated (34,000 in the West Bank and 16,000 in the Gaza Strip).

Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kailah said the recovery rate in Palestine reached 89.3 percent, active cases reached 9.6 percent, and the death rate 1.1 percent of the total infections.

A total of 14 deaths were recorded in West Bank.

She pointed that 205 COVID-19 patients are receiving treatment in intensive care units, including 69 who are connected to ventilators, while 690 others are hospitalized across the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, 617 cases and two deaths were recorded.

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Lebanon: At Least 2 Hurt as Israeli Troops Fire on People Returning South after Truce with Hezbollah

A South Korean UN peacekeeper patrol drive past destroyed buildings in Chehabiyeh village, southern Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A South Korean UN peacekeeper patrol drive past destroyed buildings in Chehabiyeh village, southern Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Lebanon: At Least 2 Hurt as Israeli Troops Fire on People Returning South after Truce with Hezbollah

A South Korean UN peacekeeper patrol drive past destroyed buildings in Chehabiyeh village, southern Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A South Korean UN peacekeeper patrol drive past destroyed buildings in Chehabiyeh village, southern Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

At least two people were wounded by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to state media. The Israeli military said it had fired at people trying to return to certain areas on the second day of a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group.

The agreement, brokered by the United States and France, includes an initial two-month cease-fire in which Hezbollah militants are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded by Israeli fire in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. It said Israel fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.

A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.

Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.

More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.

In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.