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Palestinian Authority Reportedly Accepts Funds Collected by Israel

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh during a government meeting in Ramallah (AFP)
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh during a government meeting in Ramallah (AFP)
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Palestinian Authority Reportedly Accepts Funds Collected by Israel

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh during a government meeting in Ramallah (AFP)
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh during a government meeting in Ramallah (AFP)

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is moving to accept the tax revenue money that will be transferred by Israel, even though part of it has been placed in the custody of Norway, according to a Palestinian source.

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Authority responded to US intervention and other mediation that proposed receiving the funds now after part of them were placed in the custody of a third country.

The US pledged to resolve the crisis of the withheld funds at a later time in a way that ensures its transfer to the Authority and reassures Israel that they will not reach Hamas.

Initially, the PA rejected the Israeli plan to transfer funds, considering it incomplete and conditional, but agreed after intense pressure, said the source, adding that they thought the plan resulted from a significant US effort that clashed with Israel.

The source explained that after receiving the funds, the Authority will pay wages, the salaries of retirees in Gaza, and monthly grants to needy families.

The PA informed the US that it will not stop its obligations towards Gaza in any way because it is a political issue related to the unity of the Palestinian land under one authority.

The Authority has yet to accept receiving the tax revenues officially.

At the onset of the cabinet meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that consultations were being conducted to decide on receiving the funds.

The Prime Minister said that the Israeli government approved the transfer of the portion of the money that "we spend on the Gaza Strip to Norway, provided that this money is placed in a special account there, and stipulated that this money not be transferred to us."

Shtayyeh explained that Norway decided to take this task as Chair of the International Aid Coordination Committee for Palestine.

The PM appreciated the international effort in this context and said, "We wait until the final features of the presented formula become clear, and we salute the employees for their stance in support of their people in Gaza and their patient, steadfast, patriotic, and honorable stance in rejecting blackmail and piracy."

The PM said that "what governs our decision is essentially the national interest, and strengthening the steadfastness of our people on our land, and that all of this money is our right and it is ours."

He stressed that whatever the outcome of the consultations, it will not be at the expense of Palestinian commitment to the people in the Gaza Strip, who are in greater need of this assistance than ever before.

On Sunday, Israel's cabinet approved a plan for frozen tax funds earmarked for Gaza to be held by Norway instead of transferred to the Authority.

The proposal, approved at Washington's request, stipulates that the funds be transferred to the Authority, provided that the funds allocated to the Strip are transferred to Norway.

The Israeli ministers agreed that if it turns out that the agreement has been violated, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich can end the monthly transfers to the account.

The US administration feared that the economic collapse of the Authority would lead to a violent escalation in the West Bank due to its inability to pay the salaries of its security forces.

Meanwhile, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Hussein al-Sheikh rejected any deductions from Palestinians' financial rights or any conditions imposed by Israel that prevent the PA from paying the people in the Gaza Strip.

"We call on the international community to stop this behavior based on piracy and stealing the money of the Palestinian people and force Israel to transfer all of our money," he added.

Hours later, Sheikh said that the Palestinian leadership is considering all proposals to solve the current financial crisis as a result of the withholding of funds by Israel.

The Palestinian leadership insists on its commitment to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The Authority hopes the funds will help alleviate the financial crisis that forced it to pay deducted salaries to its employees in the civil and military sectors.

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Arab World

Lancet Study Estimates Gaza Death Toll 40% Higher Than Recorded

Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Lancet Study Estimates Gaza Death Toll 40% Higher Than Recorded

Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Research published in The Lancet medical journal on Friday estimates that the death toll in Gaza during the first nine months of the Israel-Hamas war was around 40 percent higher than recorded by the Palestinian territory's health ministry.

The number of dead in Gaza has become a matter of bitter debate since Israel launched its military campaign against Hamas in response to the Palestinian militant group's unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack.

Up to June 30 last year, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported a death toll of 37,877 in the war.

However, the new peer-reviewed study used data from the ministry, an online survey and social media obituaries to estimate that there were between 55,298 and 78,525 deaths from traumatic injuries in Gaza by that time, AFP reported.

The study's best death toll estimate was 64,260, which would mean the health ministry had under-reported the number of deaths to that point by 41 percent.

That toll represented 2.9 percent of Gaza's pre-war population, "or approximately one in 35 inhabitants," the study said.

The UK-led group of researchers estimated that 59 percent of the deaths were women, children and the elderly.

The toll was only for deaths from traumatic injuries, so did not include deaths from a lack of health care or food, or the thousands of missing believed to be buried under rubble.

AFP is unable to independently verify the death toll.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said that 46,006 people had died over the full 15 months of war.

In Israel, the 2023 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel has repeatedly questioned the credibility of the Gaza health ministry's figures, but the United Nations have said they are reliable.

- 'A good estimate' -

The researchers used a statistical method called "capture-recapture" that has previously been used to estimate the death toll in conflicts around the world.

The analysis used data from three different lists, the first provided by the Gaza health ministry of the bodies identified in hospitals or morgues.

The second list was from an online survey launched by the health ministry in which Palestinians reported the deaths of relatives.

The third was sourced from obituaries posted on social media platforms such as X, Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp, when the identity of the deceased could be verified.

"We only kept in the analysis those who were confirmed dead by their relatives or confirmed dead by the morgues and the hospital," lead study author Zeina Jamaluddine, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told AFP.

The researchers scoured the lists, searching for duplicates.

"Then we looked at the overlaps between the three lists, and based on the overlaps, you can come up with a total estimation of the population that was killed," Jamaluddine said.

Patrick Ball, a statistician at the US-based Human Rights Data Analysis Group not involved in the research, has used capture-recapture methods to estimate death tolls for conflicts in Guatemala, Kosovo, Peru and Colombia.

Ball told AFP the well-tested technique has been used for centuries and that the researchers had reached "a good estimate" for Gaza.

Kevin McConway, a professor of applied statistics at Britain's Open University, told AFP there was "inevitably a lot of uncertainty" when making estimates from incomplete data.

But he said it was "admirable" that the researchers had used three other statistical analysis approaches to check their estimates.

"Overall, I find these estimates reasonably compelling, he added.

- 'Criticism' expected from both sides -

The researchers cautioned that the hospital lists do not always provide the cause of death, so it was possible that people with non-traumatic health problems -- such as a heart attack -- could have been included, potentially leading to an overestimate.

However, there were other ways that the war's toll could still be underestimated.

The study did not include missing people. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA has said that around 10,000 missing Gazans are thought to be buried under rubble.

There are also indirect ways that war can claim lives, such as a lack of healthcare, food, water, sanitation or the spread of disease. All have stricken Gaza since October 2023.

In a contentious, non-peer-reviewed letter published in The Lancet in July, another group of researchers used the rate of indirect deaths seen in other conflicts to suggest that 186,000 deaths could eventually be attributed to the Gaza war.

The new study suggested that this projection "might be inappropriate due to obvious differences in the pre-war burden of disease" in Gaza compared to conflicts in countries such as Burundi and East Timor.

Jamaluddine said she expected that "criticism is going to come from different sides" about the new research.

She spoke out against the "obsession" of arguing about death tolls, emphasizing that "we already know that there is a lot of high mortality.”