The government has renewed its rejection of Israeli deductions from Palestinian tax revenues, including a recent court decision to make new deductions for Jewish families, claiming that members of them were killed in attacks in the West Bank.

Director of the Government Communications Office, Muhammad Abu al-Rab, said that these deductions are “illegal and part of the comprehensive war on our people, in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and aim to undermine the work of Palestinian institutions, especially with the accumulation of these deductions to exceed 7.5 billion shekels since 2019.”

Since February 2019, the occupation government has begun deducting about 53 million shekels per month from Palestinian clearance funds, claiming that they are equivalent to the Palestinian government’s payments to the families of martyrs, wounded and prisoners. Since October 2023, it has added to this the deduction of about 275 million shekels equivalent to the government’s expenses in the Gaza Strip, then a new law was enacted in the Knesset last June with new deductions under the item of compensating the families of individuals killed or injured in attacks carried out by Palestinians.

Abu al-Rub said: "This law came to complete the seizure of Palestinian tax funds once and for all," stressing that the government is continuing its efforts and international contacts to pressure the Israeli government to release the frozen Palestinian funds.

He added: There is understanding from many countries of the Palestinian position, including European countries, and there is pressure already being exerted on the Israeli government, and we hope for a quick breakthrough in this file.

The occupation court in Jerusalem had ruled that the Palestinian National Authority and four Palestinian detainees must pay financial compensation to three families of Israeli settlers whose sons were killed in a shooting attack in 2001 near Ramallah.

Israeli media reported that the decision was taken on November 17, during the final hearing of the case filed by the families of the slain settlers.

According to the decision, 62 million shekels ($18 million) will be paid to the families of the three settlers, of which 24.8 million (about $7 million) will be paid by the Authority, 37.2 million shekels will be paid by the four detainees, and the remaining amount will be paid by the defendants (the Authority and the prisoners) for legal expenses and lawyers’ fees.