LONDON: Italy is committing a €10 million ($11.53m) grant to support the Palestinian Authority’s budget as part of Rome’s support for institutions in the occupied West Bank.
On Sunday in Ramallah, Palestinian Minister of Finance and Planning Estephan Salameh signed the grant agreement with Italian Consul General Domenico Bellato. The fund will support the healthcare sector and medical services for Palestinians amid increased Israeli violations and raids on towns in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestine News Agency.
In July, 65 EU delegations at the second ministerial meeting of the Palestine Donor Group in Brussels pledged an initial package of €883.6 million to support water and sanitation, waste management, healthcare, energy, agriculture and food security in the Gaza Strip.
The PA is under pressure from European donors to reform its political systems while it faces challenges from Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, as well as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by the war between Israel and Hamas since 2023.
It declared Nov. 28 as the date for long-awaited legislative elections, the first in two decades.
