The Palestinian Prime Minister has ordered the Palestinian Authority to return the first batch of about one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine back to Israel because the doses are set to expire very soon.

PA Spokesman Ibrahim Melhem says “Prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh instructed the Minister of Health to cancel the agreement with the Israeli side on transferring the vaccine and to return the quantity that was received today back to Israel.

The prime minister confirmed that the government refuses to receive vaccines that are about to expire. All the technical teams concerned with the vaccine file at the Ministry of Health worked on communicating intensively and constantly with the parent American company that manufactured the Pfizer vaccine in order to determine a clear and close period of time for receiving the quantity that was contracted to be purchased from the company." As an occupying power, Israel has an obligation under international law to provide health services to Palestinians living under its occupation.

Rights groups and international organizations have strongly condemned the regime for inoculating Israeli settlers while refusing to vaccinate the Palestinians.