Stifan Salama, the Palestinian Authority (PA) official in charge of finance and planning, warned in a press conference held in Ramallah that the financial situation of the PA has become "extremely dangerous" due to Israel's refusal to transfer PA tax revenues for the tenth consecutive month. Salama claimed that this delay threatens the continuation of basic services for citizens.
Salama noted that Israel is holding an amount equal to approximately 13 billion shekels of PA tax revenues. He said, "What we are experiencing is not a temporary crisis but an existential threat to public finances, the economy, and the entire Palestinian national project. This is being driven by the Israeli government, which has decided to destroy the Palestinian Authority. What they are doing to the Palestinian banks is playing with fire and crossing all red lines."
He further stated that had Israel transferred the tax revenues as per the agreements signed with it, the PA would have been able to pay full salaries to civil servants and end the year with a deficit of less than 400 million shekels. However, due to Israeli policy, Salama claimed, the Authority finished the year with an actual deficit exceeding 4.5 billion shekels.
According to the law, Israel deducts around 50 million shekels from the taxes transferred to the PA, an amount equivalent to the salaries paid by the PA to prisoners and terrorists. These withheld funds are redirected to victims of terrorism as part of the economic warfare against terrorism, aimed at reducing incentives for carrying out attacks.