Israel has approved a new payment of more than $140 million to the Palestinian Authority after announcing it had also unblocked some funds frozen because of the Gaza war, a finance ministry spokesperson told AFP on Thursday.
Since the start of the war on Hamas, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has withheld payments of customs and tax duties to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's administration.
But Israeli officials said on Wednesday that the government had made a 435 million shekel ($116 million) payment for duties collected for April and May.
A finance ministry spokeswoman said a further payment of about 530 million shekels for duties collected for June was approved.
Israel collects tax and customs duties for the Palestinian Authority under a 1994 protocol, which granted sole control over the territories' borders to Israel.
According to economists, the payments collected by Israel account for 60 percent of the cash-strapped authority's revenues.
Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammed Mustafa confirmed the 435 million shekel payment at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
He said the money would be used for unpaid wages for tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants and suppliers.
Authority workers have been living on reduced wages for months and the PA has made repeated appeals for international aid.
Mustafa added that Israel still owed the authority six billion shekels in back payments.
Israel stopped making the payments after the October 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, with Smotrich accusing the PA of backing the Islamist operatives.
Hamas is designated a "terrorist" organisation by the United States, the European Union and other countries. It is distinct from the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 following a violent struggle with Abbas' Fatah faction, with the Palestinian Authority's influence limited to Palestinian-run parts of the occupied West Bank.
According to Israeli media reports, Smotrich only agreed to make the new payments under a deal in which the government recognised five wildcat settlements in the West Bank.
In June, he ordered the transfer of about $35 million of the funds collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to help Israeli "victims of terrorism". The decision was condemned by the US government as "extraordinarily wrongheaded".
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Like In Ayodhya, Congress Will Defeat BJP In Gujarat: Rahul Gandhi
Hamas Accepts US Proposal On Talks Over Releasing Israeli Hostages: Report US Sees "Significant Opening" In Israel-Hamas Hostage Talks: Official Gaza Church Opens Doors To Injured, Sick As Hospitals Fill Amid Raging War BMW Dash By Shinde Sena Leader's Son Led To Mumbai Woman's Death In Mumbai Hit-And-Run, Speeding BMW Dragged Woman For 100 Metres "Don't Want To Give Political Colour": Aaditya Thackeray On Mumbai Accident "They Are Big People, We Will Suffer": Man Who Lost Wife To Mumbai BMW Dash Need Plan To Control Immigration: Ex UK PM Blair's Advice To Keir Starmer Could Kamala Harris Beat Trump In US Presidential Race? Polls Suggest... Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.