From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 5, 2024
PA announces cash payment to over 3,500 Gazans stranded in the West Bank since Oct. 7
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
The Palestinian Authority’s Labor Ministry announces the disbursement of cash assistance payments to 3,576 laborers from the Gaza Strip who were stranded in Israel on October 7 and are currently residing in the West Bank.
The Gazans are currently living in housing centers provided by the PA government throughout the West Bank, the statement adds.
The handout amounts to 140 Jordanian dinars ($197). The ministry notes in a statement that this is the sixth batch of payments made by the PA to Gazan laborers since October 7, but previous ones do not appear to have been announced. The funds are provided by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, a Kuwait-based pan-Arab development finance institution.
About 10,000 Gazan laborers who were stranded in Israel on October 7 were deported back to the Strip in early November, the Washington Post has reported, quoting border officials. Hundreds more remained in detention and were returned to Gaza in subsequent months.
Prior to the October 7 attack, some 17,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip had permits to enter Israel legally for work.
