Palestinian PM Says Oslo Accords Have ‘Vanished’

A Palestinian man stands in front of damage caused by an Israeli raid on Jenin city and its camp. (AFP)
A Palestinian man stands in front of damage caused by an Israeli raid on Jenin city and its camp. (AFP)
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Palestinian PM Says Oslo Accords Have ‘Vanished’

A Palestinian man stands in front of damage caused by an Israeli raid on Jenin city and its camp. (AFP)
A Palestinian man stands in front of damage caused by an Israeli raid on Jenin city and its camp. (AFP)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh appealed for strong international support to overcome political and financial challenges, enhance reform efforts, and advance development plans.

He made these remarks during the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) donors’ meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

"It is clear to all of us that the Oslo Accords have vanished in all aspects: security, political, legal, and financial," he said, calling on the international community to protect the two-state solution.

He accused the Israeli government of working systematically to undermine the establishment of the Palestinian state and push the Palestinian Authority to the brink of collapse through its daily incursions into the villages, cities, and camps, as well as its policies that are based on murder, arrests, and destruction.

The Israeli government is illegally withholding Palestinian funds, in addition to making unmonitored deductions from electricity, water, and sewage bills, added Shtayyeh.

He went on to say that the "systematic piracy of Palestinian funds has now topped $800 million annually, exceeding our annual deficit by $200 million, which has affected our ability to fulfill our obligations and pay public sector salaries in full."

Meanwhile, international aid has decreased significantly, as it has dropped from 30 percent of the budget to only three percent, he continued.

The PM briefed the meeting on the progress made in implementing the reform agenda.

He said that the government is about to finalize the 2024-2029 development plan, which is based on a set of goals that include strengthening the resilience of the Palestinian people, gradually breaking away from dependency on Israel by expanding Palestinian economic production and diversifying the trade relationship, in addition to strengthening and improving services in public institutions.

The Palestinian government is suffering from an ongoing financial crisis, which it says is the worst since its establishment due to Israel's continued deduction of Palestinian tax funds, the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis, and an unprecedented decline in foreign support.

For the second consecutive year, the Palestinian government cannot pay total salaries to civil and military servants, an indication of the ongoing financial crisis expected to worsen as the Israeli government deducts more of the PA’s "clearing" tax revenue funds.

For years Israel has been deducting sums of money from the clearance at a rate exceeding 200 million shekels per month, including the prices of electricity purchased by distribution companies and Palestinian local authorities from the Israel Electricity Company, the costs of water and sewage, and an allowance for medical referrals.

Finance Minister Shukri Bishara called on the international community to pressure Israelis to stop these deductions, restore financial rights fully, resolve pending issues in line with international law, and carry out the main amendments in the Paris Agreement.

The minister said during the same meeting that the sharp decline in the donor countries' support was compounded by a doubling in the Israeli deductions.

Bishara went on to say that the year 2023 was challenging for the PA because of the Israeli incursions into Palestinian cities, incurring huge losses in the economy and causing the GDP to slow down to 2.7 percent from 3.9 percent last year.

He further demanded the amendment of the Paris Agreement, saying that it has become a way to control 65 percent of returns and to keep the Palestinian economy dependent on Israel.



Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas signaled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of an ongoing ceasefire.  

Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile truce, which has held since taking effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations on both sides.  

Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks would begin "this week" on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

"We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held by Hamas or other armed groups.  

Nunu said this step was meant "to confirm our seriousness and complete readiness to move forward in resolving this issue, as well as to continue steps towards cementing the ceasefire and achieving a sustainable truce".  

Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.  

Wednesday's offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.  

Hamas also agreed on Tuesday to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next.  

After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.  

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.  

- 'Room to pressure Hamas' -  

Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that after more than a year of devastating Israeli assault in Gaza, "Hamas wants to prevent the war resuming at any cost", albeit with some "red lines".  

"And one of those red lines is that they should continue to exist, basically, whereas (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's position is that they should dismantle themselves," he said.  

Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas's capacity to fight or govern, something the group has rejected.  

But the appearance that Washington is now in complete alignment with Netanyahu's government, as displayed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit this week, strengthened the Israeli premier's hand in negotiations, according to Michael Horowitz, an expert at the risk management consultancy Le Beck International.  

It gives Netanyahu "more room to pressure Hamas", Horowitz said, adding that US President Donald Trump "prefers that the agreement moves forward, but he's leaving the field open to Netanyahu... as long as the ceasefire is maintained".  

- 'Held onto hope' -

Among the bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday are those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who have become national symbols in Israel of the hostages' ordeal.  

The boys' father Yarden Bibas was taken hostage separately on October 7, 2023, and was released alive during an earlier hostage-prisoner swap.  

While Hamas said Shiri Bibas and her boys were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed this, and many supporters remain unconvinced of their deaths, including members of the Bibas family.  

"I ask that no one eulogize my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now," the boys' aunt, Ofri Bibas, wrote on Facebook late Tuesday following Hamas's announcement.  

Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned on Thursday, although they have not officially named them.  

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has acted as go-between in the exchanges, called for a respectful handover of the hostages' remains.  

"We once again call for all releases to be conducted in a private and dignified manner, including when they tragically involve the deceased," it said.  

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.  

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.  

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.  

Since the war began, Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Gazans, some of whom have been released in previous rounds of hostage-prisoner exchanges.