RAMALLAH: The United States has denied accusations it is pressuring banks to stop dealing with the Palestinian government, whose relations with Washington have been plummeting.
Several Palestinian officials have accused the US of trying to force banks not to deal with transactions linked to the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank.
“The United States has not requested that foreign donors restrict assistance to the Palestinians, nor has it requested that financial institutions cease transfers to Palestinian Authority (PA) bank accounts,” a US official told AFP late Monday.
“We are aware of media reports suggesting this has occurred. Those reports are incorrect.”
On Sunday, senior Palestinian official Hussein Al-Sheikh charged that Washington was launching a “financial siege” on the PA.
“Major international financial institutions and parties have begun to accede to an American request to impose a tight financial siege on the Palestinian Authority,” he told AFP.
“Washington has asked for financial aid given to the authority to be stopped, and it has also issued a circular to banks not to receive transfers for the authority’s accounts.”
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki has said on local radio that the US was using “all means to press Arab countries to stop financial support for our people.”
Relations between the US and the Palestinians have broken down since President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017.
The Palestinians consider the eastern part of the city their capital and have boycotted the Trump administration since.
In response the US has cut more than $500 million in annual aid to the Palestinians, mostly to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
The cuts have worsened long term financial shortfalls for the PA, which is heavily reliant on international aid.
US denies telling banks to stop working with Palestinians
US denies telling banks to stop working with Palestinians
- Palestinian officials said the US asked banks to stop working with Palestinian Authorities
- The US decreased annual aid to Palestinians by more than $500 million after increasing tensions between the two after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
Red Cross transfers 8 Palestinians from Israeli detention to Gaza
- They were taken across the Karm Abu Salem border crossing to Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, where they were reunited with their families
LONDON: The International Committee of the Red Cross transferred eight Palestinians from Israeli detention to the Gaza Strip on Monday.
The organization took them across the Karm Abu Salem border crossing to Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah and helped reunite them with their families.
The Red Cross has been unable to visit Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centers since October 2023, as a result of which the fate and location of many detainees from Gaza were unknown, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
The Red Cross said that according to the principles of international humanitarian law, detainees must be treated humanely, held in proper conditions and allowed to have contact with their families.
Israel is holding about 9,245 Palestinian prisoners in jails, including 358 held without charge or trial under administrative detention, according to Jerusalem-based rights group HaMoked.
