In a report released on Wednesday, the United Nations warned that the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be facing grave humanitarian crisis if the foreign funding to the Palestinian government remains frozen.
The UN reported that poverty in Palestine could reach as high as 75% if the Western aid stops and the tax revenue Israel collects of behalf of the Palestinian Authority (P.A) remains frozen.
Head of the local UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, David Shearer, said that the the financial shortfall will mainly affect the poor residents and could spark violence “with armed P.A officials taking the law into their own hands if their salaries were not paid”
So far, the P. A has been unable to pay its 140.000 employees their salaries for March, these salaries were due the beginning of April; the salaries sustain roughly one-third of the Palestinian population.
The Hamas-led Palestinian government inherited $1.3 billion in debt, yet Israel has cut off $55 million in monthly tax transfers while the United States, the European Union and other Western states have cut aid to the government.
The Palestinian government regularly ran a monthly deficit of $45 million, this amount has significantly increased after the freezing of some $30 million in monthly aid from Western donor countries.
The US, EU and other western countries explained their position by stating that Hamas still refuses to recognize Israel, refuses to renounce violence, and refuses to abide by the previously signed peace deals.
Hamas said that it cannot recognize Israel while it is still occupying the Palestinian land and carrying daily attacks against the people.
Meanwhile, France said that it will not halt relief aid to the Palestinians, and considered halting the aid as a major political mistake.
