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Palestinians Slash Public Wages in Tax Dispute With Israel Over Annexation

Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara wears a protective face mask during a leadership meeting near Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 24, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara wears a protective face mask during a leadership meeting near Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 24, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
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Palestinians Slash Public Wages in Tax Dispute With Israel Over Annexation

Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara wears a protective face mask during a leadership meeting near Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 24, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara wears a protective face mask during a leadership meeting near Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 24, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

The Palestinian Authority (PA) said on Thursday it will slash the wages of tens of thousands of its employees after its protest action against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank deepened a cash crisis.

Its economy already battered by the coronavirus pandemic, the PA, which has limited self-rule in the West Bank under interim peace deals, last month rejected handovers of taxes that Israel collects on its behalf.

The transfers, about $190 million a month, make up more than half of the PA's budget and stem from duties on imports that reach the West Bank and Gaza via Israeli ports. The PA snubbed the taxes after declaring bilateral agreements with Israel null in May.

Awaiting a green light from its US ally and saying more talks with Washington were needed, Israel did not meet its July 1 target date for the start of a cabinet debate on extending sovereignty to the West Bank's Jewish settlements and Jordan Valley.

But the economic impact of the PA's protest against annexation was already being felt.

"Due to the rejection of the tax money and overall decline in income...the state's revenues have declined by 80 percent," Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara said, also referring to funds lost during the pandemic.

He announced that many of the PA's 132,000 employees would see their wages cut by half, not to fall below a minimum of 1,750 shekels ($507) a month.

Analysts say the health crisis and financial disputes with Israel could drive the PA to financial collapse. After a surge in new coronavirus cases, the PA has placed several West Bank towns under lockdown, which it plans to expand to the entire territory beginning on Friday.

Most PA employees are in the West Bank, with 30,000 in Hamas-run Gaza.

($1 = 3.45 shekels)

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Arab World

51 Crew Rescued, 1 Dead after Attack on Tankers Off Iraq

An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)
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51 Crew Rescued, 1 Dead after Attack on Tankers Off Iraq

An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)

More than 50 crew members were rescued after an attack on two oil tankers in Iraq's territorial waters, Farhan al-Fartousi of the port authorities told AFP.

Fartousi, from Iraq's General Company for Ports, said "all crew members of the two tankers were rescued," adding that the 51 workers were in good condition.

The attack killed at least one crew member, an Indian national.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they had struck a Marshall Islands-flagged ship, which they claimed was US-owned, in the north of the Gulf.

The vessel, Safesea Vishnu, came under attack March 11 while operating near Basra, India’s embassy said.

The remaining 15 Indian crew members were evacuated and are safe, the embassy added.

Arab World

Israel Orders Army to Prepare for 'Expanding' Lebanon Operations

A man stands by the rubble of a destroyed building in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
A man stands by the rubble of a destroyed building in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
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Israel Orders Army to Prepare for 'Expanding' Lebanon Operations

A man stands by the rubble of a destroyed building in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
A man stands by the rubble of a destroyed building in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he had ordered the military to prepare for expanding operations in Lebanon after Hezbollah fired a heavy barrage of rockets ⁠at Israel overnight.

"The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to prepare for expanding IDF operations in Lebanon and for restoring quiet and security to the northern communities," Katz was quoted as saying in a statement.

"I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel -- we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said in a situation assessment, according to the statement from his ministry.

 

A man walks over blood stains, in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in Ramlet al-Bayda at Corniche Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Claudia Greco

 

An Israeli strike hit a car Thursday in Ramlet al-Bayda, a major seaside tourist area of Beirut where dozens of displaced people have been sheltering. Eight people were killed and 31 others were wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

In Aramoun, a town about 10 kilometers south of Beirut, another three people were killed and a child was wounded in another early Israeli attack.

At least 634 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest fighting began, the Health Ministry said.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah launched some 200 rockets at Israel’s north and deeper into the country overnight, the Israeli military says.

Many rockets were intercepted and no serious injuries were reported.

Arab World

Strikes Kill Nine Iran-backed Fighters near Iraq-Syria Border

Fighters raise the "Hashed" logo during military exercises (Archival - Popular Mobilization Forces)
Fighters raise the "Hashed" logo during military exercises (Archival - Popular Mobilization Forces)
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Strikes Kill Nine Iran-backed Fighters near Iraq-Syria Border

Fighters raise the "Hashed" logo during military exercises (Archival - Popular Mobilization Forces)
Fighters raise the "Hashed" logo during military exercises (Archival - Popular Mobilization Forces)

Air strikes killed at least nine Iran-backed fighters in Iraq on Thursday near the Iraqi-Syrian border, two senior security officials told AFP.

Another 10 fighters were wounded in the strikes that targeted a base belonging to the US-blacklisted Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, the officials added on condition of anonymity, with one saying that the death toll could rise.

"The base was destroyed, and the rescue teams who arrived at the site were also targeted," one of the officials said.

He added that it remained unclear who was behind the attack. But the Iran-backed faction said in a statement that a "Zionist-American aggression" targeted their fighters, though it did not provide a death toll.

Iraq has long been a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, with the country's successive governments struggling to balance relations between the two rivals.

After decades of conflicts, it had recently regained some stability, but it remains volatile with increasingly influential armed groups operating outside the state's control.

Iraq was immediately dragged into the Middle East war triggered when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.

The base that was hit on Thursday belongs to the Hashed al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a former paramilitary group now integrated into the regular army.

The Hashed also encompasses brigades from Iran-backed groups, which have been repeatedly targeted in attacks blamed on the United States and Israel since the start of the war.

The contingent on the base is made up of members of Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya.

Iraq's national security advisor Qassem al-Araji mourned in a post on X dozens "of martyrs and wounded" from the Hashed forces in what he described as a "terrorist attack".