Israel continues to withhold $1.9bn of Palestinian funds
The Palestinian Authority says the Israeli government illegally deducted about $1.9bn from Palestinian tax revenues.
According to the latest figures by the Ministry of Finance, Israel deducted $749m between October 2023 and August 2024. The Palestinian Authority allocated this amount for its Gaza-based civil servants and other services, such as health and education.
The PA says Israel is deducting these funds “as a punitive measure” to stop payments allocated for Gaza.
Israel is also is refusing to transfer revenue from exit taxes – departure fees paid by Palestinian travellers – at border crossings to Jordan. This amount has now surpassed $238m, it said.
Israel collects taxes on Palestinians’ behalf as stipulated by the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 and 1995 between the two parties.
Israel says soldier killed in West Bank truck-ramming attack
Israel’s military has confirmed that a soldier was killed when the driver of “a Palestinian truck” rammed into “forces conducting operational activity” in the occupied West Bank.
The suspected assailant was “neutralised” by Israeli forces “and an armed civilian” at the scene of the attack near the Jewish settlement of Givat Assaf, north of Ramallah, an army statement said.
It later identified the dead soldier as 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Geri Gideon Hanghal.
Two Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike in Tulkarem
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says two Palestinians were killed in an air raid in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military said its aircraft conducted an air attack in Tulkarem. The refugee camp has been a frequent target in recent weeks.
Experts say Israel’s tactics during its raids appear to be part of a broader doctrine to collectively punish the population, ostensibly because pockets of armed resistance are fighting back against Israel’s ever-entrenching occupation.
Palestine Red Crescent crews evacuate residents of Tulkarem after a 10-day Israeli siege
Israeli army blows up vehicle, raids houses in West Bank’s Tubas
The Israeli army bombed a car and raided homes in Tubas in the occupied West Bank as troops faced confrontations with Palestinian fighters.
Earlier on Wednesday, five Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling in Tubas, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
Tubas Governor Ahmad al-Asaad said Israel imposed a curfew in the city, sending troops into several neighbourhoods.
Netanyahu claims weapons are being smuggled via Jordan to West Bank
At the Jordan Valley, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there are attempts to smuggle “terrorists and weapons” from Jordan into the occupied West Bank. “There is an attempt to smuggle both terrorists and weapons … We are working here in cooperation with all parties to stop this,” he said, referring to Jordan.
Netanyahu said Israel will build a stronger border barrier after three Israelis were killed on Sunday when a Jordanian truck driver opened fire after he entered the West Bank through a major crossing.
“We will do it in coordination with the neighbours,” he said. “It is important for us to ensure that this border remains a border of peace – peace and security.”
Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement 30 years ago. The countries maintain ties though diplomatic relations have been strained by Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on the West Bank.
16 Palestinians in Silwan face imminent eviction
Ir Amim, a Jerusalem-focused Israeli rights group, says the country’s supreme court rejected a request by the Ghaith family appealing a lower court’s decision to evict them from their home in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem, placing 16 people under imminent threat of displacement.
The decision comes less than a month after the Shehadeh family was forcibly evicted from their home in the same community, with the house subsequently taken over by Israeli settlers.
“Since the outbreak of the war, there has been a dramatic spike in the number of court decisions authorising evictions of Palestinian families in favour of settler groups,” Ir Amim said in a statement.
“In the past six months alone, the courts have ruled to evict a total of 14 families, numbering some 100 individuals – the majority of which are from Batan al-Hawa.”
“While attention is directed towards Gaza and the West Bank, the circumstances are being exploited to expedite irreversible changes on the ground in Jerusalem, which carry grave violations of Palestinian rights,” the Israeli group said.
