Israel is to transfer 5,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to the Palestinian Authority for frontline medical workers, Defence Minister Benny Gantz has confirmed.

It will be the first transfer of the vaccine from Israel to the Palestinian territories.

Israel has come under criticism from some human rights groups for not vaccinating Palestinians in contrast to the advanced campaign for its own citizens.

But Israel has pointed out that under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for health provision.

The vaccines ordered by the PA are not expected to arrive in any large number until March.

Meanwhile Israel has inoculated a third of its nine million citizens with one dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine, and more than a fifth – 1.7 million – with two doses.

According to studies published, last week only a tiny fraction, 0.04 per cent, of more than 700,000 Israelis who had received both jabs had become infected the following week, with only 16 of those requiring hospitalisation.