General

Prime Minister: We have prepared an urgent plan for Gaza relief and we demand pressure to stop the piracy of our funds

Brussels – Together – The Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Mohamed Mustafa, called on the international community to intervene urgently to address the financial crisis, and to put pressure on Israel to stop the piracy of tax funds and return our withheld funds, and to provide an emergency and direct financial support package for the budget, and for social protection for poor families and workers who lost their jobs due to… Aggression, in addition to the accumulated private sector arrears.

Mustafa added in his speech at the ministerial meeting of Palestine’s international partners in Brussels: ‘The financial blockade represents a blatant violation of international laws and agreements, and the significant decline in our public revenues, resulting from the general economic contraction since the beginning of the war, and the ongoing illegal Israeli deductions from our tax revenues, has… “It has further depleted our financial resources and hindered the government’s ability to meet
the needs of our people.”

He continued: ‘Currently, the government is focusing on developing and implementing a comprehensive plan for urgent relief and early recovery to support 2.2 million citizens in Gaza. The plan we have prepared includes urgent interventions in two phases: immediate relief and early recovery, in full coordination with all partners.’

In addition to providing relief to our people in the Gaza Strip, Mustafa pointed out that administrative and institutional reform represents a priority for the work of the Palestinian government, with the aim of improving the quality of public services, establishing transparency, and achieving social and economic development.

The Prime Minister devoted part of his speech to talking about the necessity of providing financial allocations to more than half a million unemployed people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the start of the latest aggression against our people, warning of the seriousness of the Israeli measures against Palestinian banking insti
tutions, which threaten a financial and economic collapse that will have consequences. Dire, as stated in the latest World Bank report.

Source: Maan News Agency