Medical professionals in Gaza are finally starting to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Dr. Mohammed Abdelmanem, a 47-year-old pulmonologist, will be among the first wave to receive a vaccine this week. He says he’s looking forward to finally not being afraid.

Cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in the West Bank and Gaza as Palestinians experience a third wave, overwhelming hospitals and filling ICU’s to their maximum capacity.

Palestinian-Americans were turned back from an Israeli vaccination clinic at a checkpoint outside Ramallah because they held Palestinian ID cards, and the U.S. Embassy won’t help them. “It would be different if all U.S. citizens here were being treated the same,” Wafaa Jallaq tells Mondoweiss. “But when Israel, or being Israeli, is basically the distinction between who gets vaccinated and who doesn’t, that’s when it becomes frustrating. The U.S. has let go of its responsibility towards its citizens in the West Bank.”

Over the last week the West Bank continues to experience a “significant surge” in a third COVID-19 wave, according to the World Health Organization with some areas doubling the number of active cases in the last seven days.

Dropping bombs on the Middle East is a rite of passage for modern Presidents and last week Joe Biden officially joined the club.

This week will mark the one year anniversary since the first cases of the coronavirus were reported in Palestine, and a state of emergency was declared in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, where Palestine’s COVID-19 outbreak began. One year later Palestine’s COVID-19 nightmare seems to only be getting worse. Cases are surging in the West Bank, causing health officials to declare a third wave of the virus, as many hospitals across the territory reach maximum capacity.

Health professionals urge Dr. Anthony Fauci to use some of his $1 million prize from an Israeli foundation to “send a powerful message” of vaccination equity and buy vaccines for Palestinians under occupation, whom Israel has refused to take responsibility for.

While Israel sends its vaccines abroad, and coordinates the purchase of vaccines to Syria, the millions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation are still being left out of the state’s inoculation plans.

The JVP Health Advisory Council calls on Israel to assume its responsibility to distribute vaccines to Palestinians in the occupied territory: “As health workers, it would be a violation of our professional ethics to stand by in silence as this form of discrimination occurs.”

Israel has issued regulations on opening up society, largely on the basis of a “green passport”, a system by which those who have been inoculated may enter hotels, swimming pools, synagogues, concert halls, and other public places. Those without the green passport can’t enter. This is a huge ethical issue.