JERUSALEM: Israel has approved a new payment of more than $140 million to the Palestinian Authority after announcing it had also unblocked some funds frozen because of the Gaza war, a finance ministry spokesperson told AFP on Thursday.
Since the start of the war on Hamas, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has withheld payments of customs and tax duties to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s administration.
But Israeli officials said on Wednesday that the government had made a 435 million shekel ($116 million) payment for duties collected for April and May.
A finance ministry spokeswoman said a further payment of about 530 million shekels for duties collected for June was approved.
Israel collects tax and customs duties for the Palestinian Authority under a 1994 protocol, which granted sole control over the territories’ borders to Israel.
According to economists, the payments collected by Israel account for 60 percent of the cash-strapped authority’s revenues.
Israel weighs Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire proposal
Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammed Mustafa confirmed the 435 million shekel payment at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
He said the money would be used for unpaid wages for tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants and suppliers.
Authority workers have been living on reduced wages for months and the PA has made repeated appeals for international aid.
Mustafa added that Israel still owed the authority six billion shekels in back payments.
Israel stopped making the payments after the October 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, with Smotrich accusing the PA of backing the.
American Dollar Exchange Rate