Israel Supports Freezing Palestinian Archives in Third Countries

The Israeli cabinet has approved a plan to freeze tax revenues from the Gaza Strip and transfer them to Norwegian custody. This was reported by sources from Reuters.

A temporary ceasefire agreement was signed between the Gaza Strip and Israel in the 1990s. According to this document, the Israeli Ministry of Finance collects taxes on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the Palestinian National Authority. Israel is concerned that these taxes are being used to finance the Palestinian Hamas movement, which attacked Israel on October 7.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the decision to freeze the taxes has been confirmed by Norway and the United States, who act as guarantors of the commitments.

Netanyahu's office announced that Israel does not intend to transfer any funds or anything equivalent without the approval of the finance minister.

In turn, the Palestine Liberation Organization has declared that it will not accept these conditions and intends to receive the funds in full. They stated that such conditions would not allow the organization to pay salaries, including in the Gaza Strip.