On Friday, Jerusalem announced that it had reached an agreement with Ramallah to give the Palestinian Authority (PA) over 1 million coronavirus vaccines that are set to expire over the course of the next several weeks. In exchange, the PA would give Israel vaccines that it plans to receive from Pfizer in September. The deal would prevent the soon-to-expire vaccines from going to waste while ensuring that they go to Palestinians who very much need them. A few hours later, the PA announced that the deal was off. Khaled Abu Toameh writes:

The Palestinian Authority’s hasty decision on Friday to cancel the initial Pfizer vaccine-exchange deal with Israel came shortly after a public outcry, particularly on social media, over the expiration date of the doses. . . . Judging from the reactions of many Palestinians to the Pfizer vaccine-exchange agreement, they seem convinced that corrupt senior PA officials were in collusion with the Israeli authorities to provide out-of-date vaccines to the Palestinian public. . . . Last March, a similar public outcry erupted after Palestinians learned that the PA had diverted some COVID-19 vaccines to senior Palestinian officials, journalists, and personalities affiliated with the PA.

One reason many Palestinians have been outraged over the past 48 hours is because they first learned about the Pfizer vaccine-exchange deal from the Israeli media. Israeli media outlets have long been serving as a main source of information for the Palestinians about what is happening in the PA. . . . The PA’s president Mahmoud Abbas [has already been facing] widespread criticism for his decision to call off the Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections, which were supposed to take place on May 22 and July 31, respectively.

The vaccine agreement with Israel was supposed to boost the PA’s already tarnished reputation and show that it is doing its utmost to provide the doses to the Palestinians. . . . But the botched deal has turned out to be one of the worst PR disasters for the PA, whose leaders are currently working to limit the damage and prevent their critics and political rivals from cashing in on the “scandal.”

In truth, the vaccines bore expiration dates of June 30 or later, and three countries have since approached Israel in an attempt to secure the doses rejected by the PA.

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.