A shipment of approximately 60,000 Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine doses arrived Wednesday morning at Ben Gurion International Airport.
The doses were provided to the Palestinian Authority (PA) by the World Health Organization, as part of the COVAX plan.
The shipment is currently making its way to the Beitunia Crossing, in coordination with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), and will soon be given to Palestinian Authority representatives.
Approximately one-third of the shipment - 20,000 doses - will be sent to Gaza later on Wednesday.
Though Israel is not legally obligated to provide the Palestinian Authority with coronavirus vaccines, it has been recognized that the Palestinian Authority residents are essentially part of Israel's epidemiological group, and therefore it is in Israel's best interests to provide them with coronavirus vaccines.
As such, Israel secretly delivered coronavirus vaccines to the Palestinian Authority back in January, and more recently approved a move setting up vaccination booths at checkpoints in Judea and Samaria for the purpose of vaccinating all PA Arabs employed in Israel, with vaccines provided by the Israeli government.