Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich signed a bill authorizing the transfer of 91 million shekels from the frozen Palestinian Authority funds in Israel to the families of terror victims.
This is the latest of several financial steps he has taken against the Palestinian Authority. Smotrich created a new mechanism developed under his guidance in the Ministry of Finance, through which, despite the freeze of Palestinian Authority tax funds transferred through the State of Israel, the authority's debts towards the State of Israel, primarily payments to families of victims of hostilities and huge debts to the Israeli Electric Corporation, were settled.
Until now, with the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority stopped, the freeze was total - the money was not transferred to the PA but it also did not go to the victims or the Israeli entities owed money by the authority.
Now, the funds are channeled directly to bereaved families and terror victims eligible to collect after a legal ruling, as well as to Israeli entities that bear the burden of debts - primarily the Electric Corporation, which provided services to the authority but did not receive full payment.
Another step since the October 7th massacre was the decision that billions of shekels defined as 'Gaza funds' or those intended to directly assist the Gaza Strip were frozen.