Palestinian Authority urges international action over Israel’s withholding of $11 billion

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday called for international action after Israel withheld around $11 billion in Palestinian funds, warning that the move poses a serious threat to the ability of Palestinian institutions to continue operating.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa made the remarks during a meeting in Ramallah with European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica, EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Christophe Bigot, and the EU Representative to Palestine Alexandre Stutzmann.

According to a statement from his office, Mustafa said that Israel is withholding around $6 billion in Palestinian tax revenues, known as “clearance revenues”, in addition to $5 billion in frozen banking funds.

Clearance revenues are one of the Palestinian Authority’s main sources of income. They consist of taxes and customs duties collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians on goods entering through crossings under Israeli control, under the 1994 Paris Economic Protocol, before being transferred to the Palestinian Authority each month.

Israel says it usually deducts from these funds amounts equivalent to the payments made by the Palestinian Authority to the families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed in the conflict.

Following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, Israel expanded the deductions to include an additional monthly amount equivalent to Gaza’s share of the Palestinian Authority’s budget.