<p>Jerusalem: Israel plans to use tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to pay the PA's nearly 2 billion shekel ($544 million) debt to state-run Israel Electric Co (IEC), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday.</p><p>Israel collects tax on goods that pass through Israel into the occupied West Bank on behalf of the PA and transfers the revenue to Ramallah under a longstanding arrangement between the two sides.</p><p>Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war in Gaza, Smotrich has withheld sums earmarked for administration expenses in Gaza.</p><p>Those frozen funds are held in Norway and, he said at Sunday's cabinet meeting, would instead be used to pay debt owed to the IEC of 1.9 billion shekels.</p>.Iran holding war games as it faces Israel tensions, Trump's return.<p>"The procedure was implemented after several anti-Israeli actions and included Norway's unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state," Smotrich told cabinet ministers.</p><p>"The PA's debt to IEC resulted in high loans and interest rates, as well as damage to IEC's credit, which were ultimately rolled over to the citizens of Israel."</p><p>The ultranationalist Smotrich has been opposed to sending funds to the PA, which uses the money to pay public sector wages. He accuses the PA of supporting the Oct. 7 attack in Israel led by the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza. The PA is currently paying 50-60% of salaries.</p><p>Israel also deducts funds equal to the total amount of so-called martyr payments, which the PA pays to families of militants and civilians killed or imprisoned by Israeli authorities.</p><p>There was no immediate comment from the PA.</p>
<p>Jerusalem: Israel plans to use tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to pay the PA's nearly 2 billion shekel ($544 million) debt to state-run Israel Electric Co (IEC), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday.</p><p>Israel collects tax on goods that pass through Israel into the occupied West Bank on behalf of the PA and transfers the revenue to Ramallah under a longstanding arrangement between the two sides.</p><p>Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war in Gaza, Smotrich has withheld sums earmarked for administration expenses in Gaza.</p><p>Those frozen funds are held in Norway and, he said at Sunday's cabinet meeting, would instead be used to pay debt owed to the IEC of 1.9 billion shekels.</p>.Iran holding war games as it faces Israel tensions, Trump's return.<p>"The procedure was implemented after several anti-Israeli actions and included Norway's unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state," Smotrich told cabinet ministers.</p><p>"The PA's debt to IEC resulted in high loans and interest rates, as well as damage to IEC's credit, which were ultimately rolled over to the citizens of Israel."</p><p>The ultranationalist Smotrich has been opposed to sending funds to the PA, which uses the money to pay public sector wages. He accuses the PA of supporting the Oct. 7 attack in Israel led by the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza. The PA is currently paying 50-60% of salaries.</p><p>Israel also deducts funds equal to the total amount of so-called martyr payments, which the PA pays to families of militants and civilians killed or imprisoned by Israeli authorities.</p><p>There was no immediate comment from the PA.</p>