An international signatures campaign was launched under the title Medical Apartheid to force Israel to address its discriminatory vaccine distribution policy and provide Palestinians access to the covid inoculation, said Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI)

Barghouti added in his written statement that tens of thousands have already signed the petition, emphasizing that Palestinian solidarity committees "have been mobilised in various parts of the world to participate in this petition, which will be handed over to various international organizations, UN bodies, and governments, especially in Europe."

"The gravity of the Israeli crime of racial discrimination in providing vaccines and protection from the dangerous coronavirus pandemic revealed the reality and the truth of the Israeli apartheid system," he continued.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the occupying power must ensure that all the necessary preventive means available to it are utilised to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics.